Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

So what do you all think are some of the worst movie blunders in terms of portraying jets and their weapons? We all know that Kfirs and F-4s and F-5s can represent "MiGs" but what other mistakes has Hollywood made?

For instance, in Independence Day nobody does a pre-flight check of their planes, they just high-five each other and hop in. And if I remember Iron Eagle correctly, the kid flew around with several dozen assorted types of rockets, bombs and missiles.

Any other good ones?

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I always liked the line in Top Gun "He's in a flat spin, headed out to sea".

Last edited by Lieven on Jun 21, 2005 - 04:42 PM; edited 1 time in total

Also see the following topics:

<a href="f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-332.html">The Falcons of Iron Eagle/Aviation movies</a>
<a href="f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-2533.html">Movie question - Behind Enemy Lines</a>
<a href="f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-529.html">More movie Vipers</a>

Several movies have mistakenly portrayed jets flying combat missions carrying bombs with blue bomb casings (read that, Training/Practice bombs) Laughing

Man, when it comes to fighters, Hollywood doesn't have a freakin' clue!

Now, from what I understand, after Dr. Strangelove came out, the USAF was wondering how the hell they got a B-52 cockpit to look that accurate.

Ok, well, everything except for the "CRM-114"... Laughing

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

OH MAN!!! What was I thinking?

I remember a really obvious one now. As a fmr. Life Support troop, I should've thought of this one before...

In several movies I've seen somebody hopping into a fighter without a harness or G suit. Granted, you could fly without a G suit, but you can't eject without wearing a harness.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

There was a movie called Raid on Entebbe that shows a C-130 cranking up but they dubbed in the sound of piston engines starting. I gues they figured since it had props it had to sound like a prop airplane...

Iron Eagle and the radar that IDed the target a/c, long before we could even think about it. You really think a kid is going to get onto the ramp and take a jet. I got your "Hades bomb".

By far the worst A/C movie ever.

The best is an old b/w flick called "Wing Commander" or something like that. It shows the trials and tribulations of a SAC Wing CC as he learns the ropes and put a unit back together after they fail an ORI. I saw it a long time ago and it was very good.

Current fun stuff can be seen on "Stargate SG1" they have AF advisers for the show and Gen Jumper is a huge SciFi fan, so much so he has appeared as himself on the show. They even wear the uniform correctly, have the rank structure correct and characters get promoted! Granted no Viper flying around but at least they aren't all fat and in need of a hair cut while wearing their shoulder boards upside down.

Occamsrasr wrote:

So what do you all think are some of the worst movie blunders in terms of portraying jets and their weapons? We all know that Kfirs and F-4s and F-5s can represent "MiGs" but what other mistakes has Hollywood made?

For instance, in Independence Day nobody does a pre-flight check of their planes, they just high-five each other and hop in. And if I remember Iron Eagle correctly, the kid flew around with several dozen assorted types of rockets, bombs and missiles.

Any other good ones?

Actually sometimes pilots will come out and just hop in the jet. But they have to know you and trust you first. I take it as a compliment when they do.

I find it amazing how in all of those movies the jets evade missiles without releasing flares and chaffs at all.

I guess there would be some pilots that have that kind of trust to just hop in the jet, but in the movie these two clowns do not even check to see if someone is standing there to launch the plane.

I was always partial to "SAC", with Jimmy Stewart. Loved the B-36 and B-47 sequences in that movie.

Didn't Airport '79 have George Kennedy stick a flare gun out the cockpit of the Concorde in order to fool a heat seeker? Always got a laugh out of that one.

Take a look at Iron eagle and how much the side stick controller moves. A Viper pilot would be in serious trouble if it moved that much.

EriktheF-16462 wrote:

The best is an old b/w flick called "Wing Commander" or something like that. It shows the trials and tribulations of a SAC Wing CC as he learns the ropes and put a unit back together after they fail an ORI. I saw it a long time ago and it was very good.

"A Gathering of Eagles" has Rock Hudson taking over a SAC wing that failed an ORI. It's in color though...I think it's a great movie although the personal drama is a bit overplayed.

I remember in Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater, they flew a B-3 (!) out of Utah, doing nap of the earth with two live nukes. The computer sim of the supposed B-3 was just a b-2 with exagerated engine outlets and a blue tint. It was pretty corny but I still think it is a good movie.

Roscoe, thanks I was really struggling with the name and all. I just remember it was a better movie than most that addressed combat flying. I sure though it was b/w but it has been 10 more years since I caught it on TBS. That is the movie though, no doubt.

Last edited by agilefalcon16 on Jun 08, 2005 - 01:11 PM; edited 1 time in total

Iron Eagle 2 was SO incredibly stupid. I only watched the movie once, but it still made me sick. Besides the fact that they used F-4s as Migs, they kept reuseing the same footage of a few Vipers banking over and over again. Also, in real life a Viper can't pull more than 9g's, but in the movie two of the main characters were competeing against each other to see who could pull 10g's first. I hated that movie.

The movie "Stealth" will be coming out this summer, about how realistic do you think this movie will be compared to the very fake Iron Eagle movies?

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Hollywood movie blunders (jets and their weapons)