The Movie "The Right Stuff"

[Andrew Semon]

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?

[RickH]

The NF104 in the climb is a model.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

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.

[RickH]

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.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

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

[Randy Haskin]

The Luftwaffe has a training program there, due to the excellent flying weather, for years after its rebirth in the 50s.

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.

[Ollie]

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...

[Originalboxcar]

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



regards,

t~

[Chris Brame]

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".

[JBoyle]

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).

[tom d. friedman]

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.

[Airdale]

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

[tom d. friedman]

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

[Chris Brame]

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.

[tom d. friedman]

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