Interesting list of movie star pilots

[famvburg]

I believe it was an AStar they showed him flying.

Well, that basically answered my curiosity about Clint Eastwood since stumbling upon a piece on YouTube from "60 Minutes", IIRC, about him being a pilot and showing footage of him flying a helo. I had wondered how long he'd been a pilot and if he was a pilot when he 'flew' the infamous MiG-31 Firefox. I now see he wasn't until a few years later. Thanks for posting.

I read in a helicopter magazine (or somewhere) that Eastwood's interest in helicopters began in the 70s when he was flown to a romote rural set every morning in a Bell 47. He started getting botleg time and eventually got his license...which he's had since the 80s. Some of the dates on that site are suspect...so it could have been before Firefox.

IIRC, He owned an AStar. He also narrated a PR film for the HAI (Helicopter Association International) trade group.

[AviaS199]

Interesting list. I''ll check, but I'm pretty sure Jack Palance flew B-25s, not Liberators. Also, I think I recall hearing Morgan Freeman interviewed by Terry Gross in which he said he was a radar tech, not a mechanic.

One addition would be Jimmy Van Heusen, known to many as Frank Sinatra's favorite songwriter. Van Heusen wrote "Fly Me To the Moon," "Come Fly With Me," "Darn That Dream," and many others. During WWII, he worked part-time as a factory test pilot for Lockheed.

Another would be actor James Franco, who learned to fly for his role in "Flyboys."