For me it would have to be The Final Coundown, FireFox (Mig-31!), The Bridges at Toko-Ri ( of course!), Airwolf & Blue Thunder.
Twelve O’Clock High-Epic
Air America-Corn
The group has mentioned just about all the movies. But I think Dr. Strangelove was missed. B-58’s flying. Gotta love Slim Pickens Riding that Nuclear Weapon.
Speaking of B-58’S - Who can forget “FAILSAFE”!? I think it was about 1964 when I saw that movie as a kid. In fact, I’m gonna order it right now.
Ok I think these three were missed:
Air America, hiding in the crashed C-123 was cool.
Flight of the Phoenix, I am a fan of Jimmy Stewart.
The Great Waldo Pepper, good cinematography of flying planes.
Victory at Sea - Every time I hear Rodgers “No other love”, I get a visual of a grey and white PBY-5 lifting off from the harbor in Rio de Janerio
i like Memphis bele
apocalipse now (the huey bit over and over)
we were soldiers (for the AH 1 skyraiders)
flight of the intruder
Harts war (with the mustangs bit)
blackhawk down
behind enemy lines
blue thunder
loads more but it 3 oclock in the morning over here and cant think of any more [|)]
I’ve got another one that hasn’t been mentioned: BAT 21, with Gene Hackman (former Marine!!) & Danny Glover. Great movie!!
i liked Space above and beyond, and the aircraft looked like planes and there was a F 18 in it aswell
OK, I’ll admit I didn’t have the time to read through all five pages of this post, but did anyone mention the 1-year TV series called “Supercarrier”? It was on network TV around 1988 or 89. Excellent footage of a modern day aircraft carrier. The story lines were weak, the characters were unbelievably cheesy: ref. the small-town seaman on his first cruise, the salty masterchief, the cocky f-14 pilot with his ex-ANZAC RIO named “Anzac”, and the straight-as-an-arrow F-18 pilot played by Ken Olin of soap-opera fame (don’t ask me which one). I remember watching Letterman b/c I saw Ken Olin was going to be on the show, only to find out he was talking only of his soap opera career. How disappointing. But hey, there’s nothing like watching a TV show based on a nuclear carrier.
the best movie I think I like are Always (I love the A-26’s + I worked on a restore project of a 26 when I was in A & P school on a A-26C so that flick has some sentamental value for me) then the all great Tora-Tora-Tora,
I liked Midway so much that I rewound the tape and watched it immediately after the first viewing. The special effects in Pearl Harbor were incredible. I wanted to watch it again, but to be honest, I could have done without the “You love her, but she loves him, he loves somebody else, you just can’t win,” quagmire. Although I’ve seen Top Gun several times, I never tire of watching it. Favorite TV series that deals with aviation was
Robotech. I am probably way out of league here, but it was cool when I was a kid and it is still cool to me know. Ba Ba Black sheep is also a classic.
When it comes to historical movies, I’d say “Tora, Tora, Tora”, “Midway”, “Battle of Britain”, and “Tuskegee Airmen”. I love the in-flight photography in “Top Gun”, and “Pearl Harbor” too. I also liked the F-18 sequences in “Behind Enemy Lines”. I gotta say though that one of my favorite movies has got to be “The Right Stuff”. As far as TV series, my favorite is “Black Sheep Squadron”.
Captains of the Clouds 1940 Jimmy Cagney,Brenda Marshal(SP?) , Norseman, Fairchilds, Wacos on Floats, Harvards,Yales,Fairy Battles, Hudsons ect and a Hurricane dressed up as a German fighter Great movie.
Anyone remember RIPCORD the skydiving tv series?
Movies:
The Hunters, Top Gun, 633 Squadron, Toko-Ri, Men of the Fighting Lady
Bring Back:
12 O’clock High, Whirlybirds
Anybody remember 240 Robert? Johanna Cassidy flying an LASD MD 500 Notar thru Malibu Canyon…niiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Well I have Dark Blue World on DVD, great film, but they still used spanish 109s with merlins in a couple of shots. Not that it detracts from the movie. The Bridges at Toko ri is another classic, as is the Battle of Britain.
TV series - Piece of cake.
Memphis Belle… Yep!
The Right Stuff …Yep Yep!
Flight of the Intruder…Contains World’s greatest line.
Strategic Air Command…Greatest B-36 footage.
Tora Tora Tora…accurate yes…
Failsafe …Nice B-58 shots.
1941…If only for Wild Bill…Horryrood!
Speaking of the AVG (as did someone) I had the best 4 hours in a long time when I spent an afternoon at Bob Layher’s (squadron leader Rangoon) house chatting about the AVG. I mentioned the movie “Flying Tigers” …He laughed for at least a good 3 minutes…
For films it would be
- The Final Countdown - best part is the two F-14 dogfighting the Jap Zero’s
- Memphis Belle
- The Dam Busters
- Top Gun - with extra cheese
- Blue Thunder
- Can’t remember - Chopper film with Larry Hagman ( Dallas )
TV would be:
- Airwolf
- Chopper Squad - I fancied the girl in it when I was about 10…
- Whirly Birds - makes me think of breast’s for some reason…
I can’t belive nobody mentioned:
‘Dawns Early Light’- B52’s and Rebecca DeMornay, you can’t beat that, not to mention
using nukes to get those pesky fighters off your back.
‘Call to Glory’ tv show about the 60’s Air Force-great U2 footage
The new ‘Pearl Harbor’ movie without the love story
‘Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo’
'The Great Waldo Pepper"
Piece of Cake for the TV series. Love watching Spitfires at treetop level.
Squadron 633 for the movie. The footage of the De Haviland Mosquitos are really good.
Tuskeegee Airmen, 12 O’Clock High, Strategic Air Command, you folks have named them all. Let’s hope that someone will put some money and new technology into an all out WWI movie like the classic, Dawn Patrol!
Matt