The movie "Aviator"

[Pat Carry]

Last nite we went to the movie theater to see the movie "Aviator". One scene showed 7 or 8 Lockheed Constellations parked on the ramp (computer generated I'm sure) and I could not help but think what a great looking airplane that is. For me its the finest looking prop-driven commercial aircraft ever made. Anyone else concur? To carry this just a little further, the Boeing 707 is the finest looking jet powered commerical aircraft ever made in my humble opinion. Anybody have any other favorites?

[TimAPNY]

How was the movie?

It looks like from the trailers that is about sex and politics with some airplanes on a side note, is that correct?

[Chuck Gardner]

Wasnt that the life of Howard said in a nutshell?

[TimAPNY]

Good point!

[Pat Carry]

Tim, it was a pretty decent movie. Leonard Di Caprio was excellant in his role of Howard Hughes. Actually there is a whole bunch of flying in the movie, from the opening scenes where Mr Hughes is shown putting together his "Hells Angels" movie, to the Hughes Racer, to the flying and subsequent crashing of the XF-11 ( a very impressive crash scene) and finally the Spruce Goose taking off in Long Beach Harbor computer generated of course. In the Hells Angels portion of the movie it appears there are 15 to 20 biplanes parked in the desert waiting to take off. Most of them appear to be the real thing but I would like to know how many flying examples were actually used.

[airnutz]

A Fokker D VII, replica was supplied as a static display...although that
aircraft is nearing time for its first flight at Old Kingsbury Aerodrome,
Texas.

[Ollie]

I've seen the flick and it was quite good.

concerning the WWI birds, the D.VII were full scale (at least one was a real flying one with an engine doing prt-prt and the others probably electric powered) but the SE.5 where 3/4 or smaller with a wee Continental 85HP thing that stuck out from the cowling.

[Walrus 7]

Pat,

I concur with your feelings about the Connie: they are the sweetest-looking prop-liner ever built. We have one that does all the big airshows out here and it still remains the queen of the skies.

Walrus

[AIRIC]

Saw the movie last night. I really enjoyed it. I thought the flying sequences were really good and exciting without being over done to much. The racer, XF-11 and Spruce Goose looked great. My only complaint is about exaggerating the Spruce Goose flight to make it look like it flew higher and longer then it did and from what I have read I don't think Howard was that insane that early in his life. I thought it was a great movie. BTW the Great War Flying Museum in Canada had two of their aircraft crated and shipped to California for the movie. I know one was the full scale SE-5a but I’m not sure if the other one was the D.VII.

Eric

[agent86]

I have to agree with you that the Connie is the prettiest prop airliner.
But when it comes to jets theres only one candidate and that is the
DeHavilland Comet.Nothing else even comes close in my opinion,of course thats only my opinion. Tim

[Chris Brame]

They used the Save-a-Connie bird with a lot of computer duplications; no inflight shots, though. The XF-11 mockup was a real beauty; so cool to see taxiing with the contra-rotating props going. Too bad they had to smash it up like that. The night flight scenes with the Sikorsky seaplane were my favorites; no stunts, just a beautiful old plane cruising the nighttime sky.
Nitpicks? OK - red bar insignia and no tail number on the XF-11; one shot of the Spruce- er, Hercules model at the party has the props stopped (rest of shots have them spinning); and did we really need two shots of Leo's rear fuselage without its fabric covering? And you're right; if he'd gotten the Hercules that high he would have landed at Newport Beach...

[tom d. friedman]

interesting replies regarding the movie!! i haven't seen it yet, & can't wait to!! but i've read just about everything on hughes over the years, & with differing views by a variety of authors / aviation historians i can safely draw the conclusion that hughes was not nuts in his early years as stated by a wix contributor, but he sure was obsessive compulsive to the 100th degree, & was about as anal retentive on anything he was interested in. he took perfection beyond the realm!! his germophobia affliction though stemmed from his childhood through his mother, who for example examined his feces for regularity on a frequent basis, & much of the germ paranoia also stemmed from the fact that most of his close family died early from disease such as his his mother & father before hughes was in his mid 20's. it's funny though!!!!! for a germaphobe he screwed countless hollywood moviestars like a jack rabbit!!! he literally had them stacked up, jumping from numerous dates all in the same night!! i think the man was a genius, but his undoing really came after the crash of the xf 11, which brought on his life long dope problem from after that time to his death in 1976. another thing is for sure, he took no crap from anybody!!! & he made everybody squirm from j. edgar hoover to nixon, on & on. he was a real power broker & king maker from his earlist days as an adult to his death. his legacy still remains, i'm just glad his movie was done with class befitting an aviation giant. all the best, tom

[Randy Haskin]

Good flick...

Very interesting which aviation details they chose to include (details like the USAF-issue map light up in the cockpit of the XF-11) and the ones they discarded (like...uh...flying the XF-11 without strapping in, or at least not having shoulder straps?). And how was he able to taxi the H-1 with that hat on?

The ground mockup of the H-1 racer looked beautiful *except* the stubby wings made it look like a cartoon (the real thing is so incredibly graceful....).

I think at least one shot of the Wright H-1 replica made it in the movie...I am positive I saw a closed canopy in one shot while it was open cockpit in every other shot.

And...I am constantly annoyed in movies at how people can have normal conversations in airplanes while in flight. I'll bet that seaplane was darn loud in real life!

Overall, pretty cool movie for not having a lot of actual airplanes in it!

[Cking]

Just seen the film and I think it was quite good, I loved the XF-11!. My ears pricked up when they showed Rosco Turner. From what I recall about inter war American aviation, his larger than life persona deserves a film of it's own!. Although strictly out side this forum isn't there a replica of one of his aircraft on the U.S. airshow circuit too?

Rgds Cking

P.S. Happy new year

[AIRIC]

Randy,

I did notice what I thought was a couple of scenes with the canopy covered racer replica. I was wondering if they managed to get some footage of the replica before it crashed.

Eric