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Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Mon May 06, 2019 3:17 pm
The original much-lauded mass takeoff of, as I remember, 16 B-25s in the film "Catch 22" was obviously quite dangerous. Would any operational medium-bomber unit actually have performed such a stunt rather than sending the bomber off in, say, groups of three?
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Mon May 06, 2019 9:25 pm
Stephan Wilkinson wrote:The original much-lauded mass takeoff of, as I remember, 16 B-25s in the film "Catch 22" was obviously quite dangerous. Would any operational medium-bomber unit actually have performed such a stunt rather than sending the bomber off in, say, groups of three?
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 1:56 am
Okay, so I have two photos of the same half-dozen relatively well-dispersed B-26s doing a formation takeoff, which is hardly the same as 18 (not 16, as I initially wrote) B-25s taking off from the same runway, plus somebody telling my to "check my history." Is that like checking my six? I'm confused.
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 2:23 am
There is that well known (and often used) photo of 3 B-25s taking off in the desert. I agree with Mr. Wilikinson, there is a huge difference between 3 and 16. Fighters seemed to go line abreast when doing mass takeoff from pre-runway aerodromes.
I'm not sure [i]why[/i] they'd risk something like that unless they were under direct enemy attack. I appreciate that safety standards were different then, but they weren't stupid and were well aware engines could fail on take off.
At least when SAC did their MITOs (as seen in the film [i]A Gathering of Eagles)[/i], the aircraft had 3 or 7 [i]other[/i] engines in case one failed, not 50% of their power.
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 9:30 am
RV8er wrote:
Decamara wrote:Check your history
What does this even mean? Seriously, it makes no sense...
I think he means BROWSING history...because you wouldn't want the wife seeing how you spent your internet time...on WIX...asking strangers questions about airplanes.
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 9:35 am
The short answer is 'No' .... the long answer is there never seemed to be a need to take off anywhere during the war in any theater that would have required a mass take off like you see in Catch-22. Far too dangerous and never really a need nor necessary to do so. Of the hundreds of thousands of photos I have seen, never have I seen a mass take of such as in the movie. Not even the Germans or Japanese or any other Nation for that matter. Am I sure? no, but until I see proof, I'll stick with 'no'.
The only consolation is that in the movie Catch-22, if I recall, we only see the head on or head away views of the take off sequences. Perhaps they were spaced much farther apart than we think they are .... but still, it's quite an unusual take off sequence and not quite realistic by WWII bomb group operations.
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 9:40 am
don't know if they did it WW II, but i did 4 of those T/Os in Catch 22 with 2 to 3 seconds between brake release, was paid the big bucks to do it, not.
Re: Original Catch 22 mass takeoff--legit or Hollywood?
Tue May 07, 2019 9:12 pm
That take-off scene was only done for strictly cinematic purposes and would never have been done with 3 second intervals. Way too dangerous. 20-30 seconds would've been the norm in a "fast" take-off scramble.
Obviously, the inaccurate cinematic impact of the Catch-22 take-off sequence has had very long lasting effects on every aircraft lover out there, right to this day! It's a scene we all love and is constantly brought up and discussed.
Mike Nichols knew the impact he wanted from the take-off sequence and he got it! Jerry
