Warbird Information Exchange

I watching the movie “The Right Stuff” yesterday on the History channel and I was wondering if any one knows if the aircraft used were the real deal.. the Bell replica is a given..but I noticed a few other classics..like the Lockheed F-104 used in the final scenes....it has a tail mark number # 132.....was it a model?

The NF104 in the climb is a model.

The F-104 was base at Luke AFB and was a Luftwaffe plane that was repainted for the movie. The Luftwaffe has a training program there, due to the excellent flying weather, for years after its rebirth in the 50s.

Jiggers , I know that F-104 taxiing and taking off is real. I was referring to the shots showing it climbing at the steep angle into the stratoshere. The editors cut in and out with cockpit/outside shots until Yeager lost control. The shots of the NF104 spinning out of control were a model.

There was a story in Air Classics at the time about the use of Models. They used a Revell or Hasegawa 1/32 F-104 for the spin shots. The just basically dropped the model and shot it spinning in , from several different angles. I believe they dropped a full scale mock up of the Glennis. I iwll look to see if I still ahve that issue with the story

The Luftwaffe training is out at Holloman AFB, NM, these days. Singapore runs some F-16 training at Luke these days, but the jets are all painted in US markings and I am pretty sure it is a US-administered squadron.

There was an article about the Luke Sqn. in the latest International Air Power Review, but I don't recall if they said anything about Singapour...

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

Not mine, but a nice shot of the NF-104 (well, stock 104). Notice no rocket motor!



regards,

t~

The film crew wasn't allowed to make any modifications to the plane, i.e. adding a simulated rocket engine to the tail, so they just referred to it in the script as "the one with the big engine".

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Why use F-104G's? All the real NF-104s were lost in accidents.

Alsao, some of the B-29 shots were models.

Also, the model/mock-up of the X-15 at Pima Air Museum was borrowed and refurbished for the film, but never used (or cut out of the final film).

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

alot of the real heroes / characters in the flick didn't like their movie portrayals, namely yeager. even glenn, while a 1st class officer & a gentleman wasn't nearly the cornball they painted him as.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

They never dropped the full scale X-1. They wanted to, and I believe built it to a higher strength, but the FAA said no, so they used various size models from about four feet long down to six inches in length. The shot of the X-1 and X-1A dropping out of the B-29, shot from the side angle, is a Monogram B-29 with motors, hung on wires and shot with a telephoto lense. I believe it was shot on top of a building in the San Francisco area at sunset. The X-1 doing the roll after breaking the sound barrier is the four foot model.

There were approx. 25-30 aircraft listed as being used in the filming, but the only models, besides the spacecraft, were the B-29, X-1, X-1A, and the NF-104 as it beings to stall and then enters a spin. Real aircraft, flying or static, included, F-86, several T-33's, A-4, A-7, B-29, B-29 Fuselage for the interior shoots, T-34, Hawker Hunter, C-130, Bell, UH-1D Huey, Sikorsky CH-34, and F-104. There were probably a few I missed, and that doesn't include the Parachute Jump ship, Camera ship or aircraft used to shoot the spinning sky. I also believe a skydiver was killed while shooting Yeager's ejection sequence. (Can someone confirm that?)

Blue skies,
Jerry

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Please pray for good weather!!!

i don't recall the hawker hunter, & i've seen the flick umteen times!! what scene?? if you can describe it

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

The Hawker Hunter was used to represent the Douglas D-558. They were going to use a real one but it was quicker and cheaper to use the Hunter (which could be flown to the filming site, unlike the real thing) for what would be only a couple of shots.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

chris, very clever!!! i just figured it was a model, i never looked that close. they did a great job on the disguising of the hunter. you are quite the authority on this movie chris!!!!! pretty cool thanks, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!