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What are your favorite aviation films


blueliner

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Hi Guys n Gals,

for me Battle of Britain wins by miles!

Then, in no particular order;

The Right Stuff (I've been lucky enough to meet Charles Elwood 'Chuck' Yeager)

Strategic Air Command (fantastic air to air filming and an awesome take off)

Dambusters (really looking forward to the re-make)

The Sound Barrier (the figther was called The Prometheus)

Now one film that has the best start to any film (even thought the rest of it's pretty average) has to be Always, with the two fishermen in a small boat with a PBY coming at 'em!

TV wise my all time fave has to be B25 Mithchell's Do Fly IMC, where John 'Jeff' Hawke brought 5 Mitchells across the Atlantic for the film Hanover Street.

And what would I like to see as a film, well that would have to be Vulcan 607.

Regards

Reggie

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Nearly all of the above. Love 'The Right Stuff' even though I have developed a distaste for what Chuck Yeager has become. Didn't like Red Tails at all. None of the flashy stuff made up for it being badly made tosh.

I have a particular fondness for 'The Blue Max', 'The Red Baron' (old version) and one not mentioned before 'Darling Lili'. Not least because as a small child I formations of German and RFC aircraft fly overhead, engage in dogfights and on one memorable occasion witnessing a low level, a very low level duel between two British and German scouts. Can you imagine how exciting that was?

No, I'm not really old nor am I French. It was during the making of the above movies all of which were made near where I lived. The German airfield in Blue Max was where I learned to fly and a lot of it is familiar. Even years later you could see evidence of the movie makers set.

I also like Aces High which apart from the flying is a very intelligent movie.

Whatever happened to the Peter Jackson remake of 'The Dambusters'.

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Battle of Britain

633 Squadron (Mosquito Squadron was pants, imo)

Dambusters (will we ever get the remake??)

Twelve O'Clock High (but not really a flying film, imo)

Memphis Belle

Top Gun (sorry, I like it for the F-14s)

even worse....Independence Day (sorry...)

Honourable mention for me as a Southampton boy born-and-bred has to be First of the Few.

Edited by alpine_modeller
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Going to be a bit obscure now but there was a "made for TV" movie called "Sole Survivor" about a B-25 that crashes in the desert and the crew are ghosts. IIRC William Shatner played the one surviving member of the crew who had baled out. The story was loosely based on the "Lady Be Good". Really, REALLY wish they'd bring it out on DVD - I'd buy it in a heartbeat (although I very much doubt that they ever will...it wasn't even released on video).

I managed to "acquire" this one to view. So all I'm saying is, if you're savvy that way, :shutup::whistle:;) , it's out there. I really enjoyed it.

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Top Gun (sorry, I like it for the F-14s)

Come on, no need to be sorry - it is a great film inh so many ways! GREAT music (-of the 80s, the THE decade), F-14s, stunning photos, decent story etc. :)

Well, you guys have listed them all I think - I like them all, more or less... But a few with cool scenes not mentioned I think

1941 - Wild Bill, yeah.. :)

Pearl Harbor - well yeah, my turn to apologize, hehe.. But when they start up and are chased in their P-40s is pretty sweet eye-candy. As is the scene when they start from the carrier.

The First of the Few - has it been mentioned? Epic anyways...

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This is one of my favourites, take out the American accent.

Its all about T Tommy. Invaluable for all you Sunderland Builders.


Also this for all you Bomber Command and US Eighth Air Force fanatics

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John Gregson at his RAF best again. Great if you are doing Cold War stuff this year and need inspiration

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The Doug McClure movie referred to by Stevej60 was Death Race, made in 1973.

He spends the movie being chased across the Western Desert in his P-40 by a barking mad German in an M-4A3E8 if I recall. It also features some P-40 footage lifted from the movie Tobruk.

I suspect it was made-for-tv...

Edited by Hepster
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There's a low-budget film about D-Day called 'Overlord' which has crystal-clear air-to-air footage of a Lancaster flying at dusk, which I rushed off to see despite some dreadful reviews.

I also saw an early IMAX movie which has a sequence where they'd strapped an IMAX camera (not a small thing!) to the tail of a DC-10 and flown it through a thunderstorm. The sensation of flight was squitteringly convincing.

I rushed off to see 'The Battle of Britain' never imagining that one day, the deeply beautiful Susannah York would cook me a bowl of pasta. It was delicious.

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Going to be a bit obscure now but there was a "made for TV" movie called "Sole Survivor" about a B-25 that crashes in the desert and the crew are ghosts. IIRC William Shatner played the one surviving member of the crew who had baled out. The story was loosely based on the "Lady Be Good". Really, REALLY wish they'd bring it out on DVD - I'd buy it in a heartbeat (although I very much doubt that they ever will...it wasn't even released on video).

I remember that one too, and have often wanted to find it myself. One of the early Twilight Zone episodes, 'King 9 will not return', featuring a B-25 in the desert, was also based on the Lady Be Good.

Also, can't forget Jimmy Stewart in 'The Spirit of St. Louis', or 'The Duke' in 'The High and the Mighty', & 'Island in the Sky'

Edited by Byron Boyd
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