Tom Cruise P-51 …

[Jesse C.]

Because Corsairs don't have jump seats...

I knew those would come up, but I wasn't expecting it from you! LOL!

You have to admit that those two are some pretty weird examples and it is not a very common mod in the Corsair Community. Plus, you can't see Jennifer Connelly's beautiful smile in the back of one of these.

[hurricane_yank]

Because Corsairs don't have jump seats. And Navy Birds are not as common as Mustangs.

And it's make believe, so who cares

Oh yeah, you did.

Why not put him in a Kaydet? Wind in the hair of the beautiful Jennifer Conley.

Or since you said it was make believe, why didn't he just own an F-14 and take Penny up in that? If you graduate from Topgun you get your very own F-14!!!

[menards]

Because Corsairs don't have jump seats. And Navy Birds are not as common as Mustangs.

And it's make believe, so who cares

Oh yeah, you did.

Why not put him in a Kaydet? Wind in the hair of the beautiful Jennifer Conley.

Or since you said it was make believe, why didn't he just own an F-14 and take Penny up in that? If you graduate from Topgun you get your very own F-14!!!

Nah dude, Maverick should have had his own personal Mig-28.

[Mark Allen M]

What a great movie!! It has it all.... Real flying, lots of action, love interests, great music, football, authentic history, correct salutes, real good guys, real bad guys, "Kiss me Kate" removed from Cruise's P-51 for authenticity. You name it, it has it all!

Almost knocked "Pearl Harbor" off my best of all time plane movies.

[Jesse C.]

Because Corsairs don't have jump seats. And Navy Birds are not as common as Mustangs.

And it's make believe, so who cares

Oh yeah, you did.

Why not put him in a Kaydet? Wind in the hair of the beautiful Jennifer Conley.

Or since you said it was make believe, why didn't he just own an F-14 and take Penny up in that? If you graduate from Topgun you get your very own F-14!!!

Heck why not Pegasus! Rides it majestically, and he can carry a sword that shoots down Migs when he holds it aloft and screams "By the Power of Naval Aviation, I have LOCK!

[Jesse C.]

What a great movie!! It has it all.... Real flying, lots of action, love interests, great music, football, authentic history, correct salutes, real good guys, real bad guys, "Kiss me Kate" removed from Cruise's P-51 for authenticity. You name it, it has it all!

Almost knocked "Pearl Harbor" off my best of all time plane movies.

I think the divorce removed "Kiss Me Kate" for him

[Warbirdnutta]

Obviously a bit of "tongue in cheek" some lovely footage of Tom's P51.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1iZtBM23bY

Um, you are aware that that's the same link that's contained in the Original Post on this thread right to start all this?

[quote="Saville"]

Whoops sorry mate, should have looked back...........

[ZRX61]

I did think it was funny that the couple sitting next to me made the comment of why a Navy Captain would own and be flying a P-51.

What rank was Lyle when he got RareBear?

& wasn't Pete Regina an A&P at TWA when he got his P51?

[ZRX61]

Think they painted the Merlins red or orange to see oil leaks better..

RR painted the scrap red... I've been around probably 100 or more Merlins, only seen that one Case Orange one

[Archer]

& wasn't Pete Regina an A&P at TWA when he got his P51?

TWA 'Mechanic of the Year' according to this article: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

[jdankos]

Walt Ohlrich was a navy pilot and owned and raced a Bearcat while in the Navy. He had a P-51 for a short time and also owned a SNJ-5 until he stopped flying.

I have seen photos of him in his uniform beside the Bearcat.

He may be the only person that leased a Hellcat from the navy.

He flew Bearcats and A4's in the navy and retired as a Captain.

[bdk]

He may be the only person that leased a Hellcat from the navy.

Just had to find out more about this story:

At NAS Norfolk she became a training airframe, serving a new generation of maintenance trainees until she was put in storage. Navy Captain Walt Ohlrich found Bu 41476, sourced a set of new outer wings and restored the old fighter to flight worthy condition – unheard of for a U.S. government owned museum aircraft.

For the next several years, the Hellcat showcased Navy and Marine aviation history at airshows on the east coast. Alas, all good things must come to an end. A government bureaucrat found out the historic aircraft was flying and forced her to be grounded. After that, the Hellcat was displayed at the USMC Museum in Quantico, Virginia. Hellcat Bu 41467 moved again in 2002, this time on loan to the Evergreen Museum. It was displayed as a day fighter for the next ten years.

Now, the Hellcat moves into a new phase of life, restored to the highest standards of her stock condition. The story of WWII Naval Aviation and the role of the night fighters will be told through this aircraft.

https://www.americanheritagemuseum.org/ ... n-hellcat/

[ZRX61]

& wasn't Pete Regina an A&P at TWA when he got his P51?

TWA 'Mechanic of the Year' according to this article: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

Boris used to come by the hangar all the time around the time he wrote that article. Didn't know he was the guy who took the pics of the Bob Kennedy murder.

[OD/NG]

I finally saw the movie and was delightfully surprised! I thought it was a great entertaining MOVIE - not a documentary, like some wanted it to be. It was well done, had enough flow and references to the original and answered all of the lingering questions we've had from the last 36 years. It placed a nice bookend on the end of the line for Maverick. We can now put Top Gun to bed and not have to worry about another sequel.

Some observations:

1) There were not nearly enough P-51 scenes in the movie and it was only an afterthought. Based on all of the hype and the Lady Gaga video, I assumed the Mustang would be a central plot of the movie - I was wrong.

2) The Lady Gaga soundtrack was awful! They really needed a unique, catchy song with a hook to associate with this movie. Unlike the original, they failed miserably on the soundtrack.

3) The flying sequences were absolutely spectacular - maybe the best ever done in an aviation flick! Tom was right - this was a "love letter" to aviation.

4) The F-14 flying sequences were expertly done. Knowing there were no F-14's flying that they could have possibly used for filming, that makes it obvious it was CGI. It was done so well, I really couldn't distinguish the CGI from reality. The computer animation has really improved quite a bit from "Red Tails".

5) There were some cringe-worthy sequences such as: 1) using flares to defeat the SA-3's. Um, no - just no. 2) the final way our hero gets out of trouble - so improbable and unlikely!

6) I'm so appreciative the DOD gave the Navy permission to cooperate with Tom on the filming of the movie. Having Navy support was essential and really made this film the success that it has been. Hopefully DOD support will be forthcoming in other future Hollywood projects.

7) Despite all of the shortcomings, the entertainment value was superb and I thought this was one of the best sequels ever made. I'm glad I went and would see it again.

[marine air]

I was "scarred for life" after watching the movie "Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck in 2001. The CGI was horrible. the worst part is they shipped two real Zeros, a couple P-40's and lots of the TORA replicas to Hawaii and had real movie pilots like Steve Hinton on hand for filming. Then, they had one second frames, similar to an early MTV music video. Absolute waste of millions of dollars on the real aircraft. Most disappointing war movie of them all.
Recently the remake of "Midway" and of course "Top Gun Maverick" have been great. The key is to only expect entertainment. Was it worth the price of admission? As a bonus, if the sounds match the engine type and the guns are accurate , that's a bonus. I enjoyed the latest Top Gun but suspected many scenes got deleted to keep the movie around two hours. They surely had more romance and P-51 video in the unedited version. It had a minimum of romance similar to the "Mission Impossible" movies TC does. The movie is a commercial product for the masses and seems to have hit the bullseye. I plan to go back and see on IMAX.