I saw
Sky Commando last night; there are some howlers... Opening scenes over Korea have footage of an RF-80 and an F-86; the process closeups are of an F-80 fuselage with a fake-looking windscreen and maybe a real canopy. The data block IDs it as F-80B-1-LO 45-8557; directly below that is "U.S. Navy Serial No. 29690". Baugher's listing does show this one as being transferred to the Navy as a TO-1. The cockpit process shots show a model F-86 in the background with the fuselage star-and-bar upside down. The model MiG-15s at least have the red star right side up.
Most of the action is a flashback involving B-25 recon ships, although there is footage of B-17s and 24s mixed with it. The only plane I'm sure they used with the actors on location was an unmarked A-20G which I believe was N67971. There are some ground shots of a B-25 which don't look like combat footage; it had some nearly-illegible nose art ("A??? L??? S???" and below that "??SE IT IS"). The cockpit and fuselage shots were inside a Martin B-26; later in the movie when Dan Duryea and Touch Conners (aka Mike Connors) are flying a B-24, the set decorator just added two more levers to the side of the throttle quadrant. The last B-24 raid is (mostly Ploesti) stock footage and lots of it, including a formation of C-47s at one point. Some of the B-24s taking off are
Liberandos,
The Duchess (lost over Germany) and
Brewery Wagon (lost at Ploesti). They end up crash-landing their B-24, which is a model whose wings have a bad case of anhedral...
So, in other words, your typical '50s B war movie which you can fast-forward through to see the planes. If you want to see Dan Duryea in an airplane, watch
Flight of the Phoenix instead.
_________________
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)
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