BTW, Floats, did you realize they used BF-109s (actually Spanish Buchons) as Hurricanes in "The Battle of Britain"?Originally Posted by Floatsflyer
They only had three flyable Hurricanes, so they painted up some of the Buchons in British markings. You can see them in the second "Vic" in this screen shot from the movie.
Here's a close-up:
Seems like you should be storming about THAT.....
Ron "Repeat, Please" Wanttaja
Last edited by rwanttaja; 06-11-2019 at 05:00 PM.
Sorry to disappoint you, there is no "storming" here. Have far more important subjects and issues to engage with rather than spending mind-numbing hours searching for mistakes and faux pas' in aviation themed content.
To quote Monty Python, "You're no fun any more...."
From the "Wichita Fokkers" of the "Wings" to this year's "Midway" (coming out this fall), I love picking out the efforts of the moviemakers to provide aerial excitement within their budgets. "Budget" is usually the key term here. I think the T-6 is probably the leader for "bad-guy stand ins," being used a Japanese aircraft during the patriotic movies during WWII and beyond, Focke Wulfs in "Where Eagles Dare", and, of course, it got its second wind when the producers of "Tora Tora Tora" decided they needed more than gray paint and Hinomaru. My favorite of the WWII era was the Ryan SC in Japanese markings.
As is probably obvious here, I'm not too critical...while finding Allied aircraft for the films is relatively easy, the Axis airplanes have never been that common. But I like seeing *real* airplanes, not models. I think CGI *can* work, but there should be an effort to emulate the traditional camera angles and physical effects to try to mimic conventional air-to-air photography. I actually thought the "Dogfights" TV series did this pretty well, with the camera "shaking" when a plane buzzed by too close.
I didn't like the CGI in "Flyboys" (and loathed much of the plot). I've read complaints from folks about "Red Tails" but I didn't find as much objectionable (and really liked its depiction of a forward fighter base). One advantage of CGI is that the particular types can be depicted accurately; no more P-51s as BF-109s, or 109s as Hurricanes. Gives one the opportunity to see some exotic types, too.
As I mentioned above, there's a new "Midway" movie coming out this fall. The original film re-used footage from "Tora Tora Tora" and war-era combat footage and was pretty underwhelming. I doubt there was more than a few ground scenes with aircraft actually shot for the movie.
I expect the new movie will probably use a lot more CGI. Its poster seems to show a sort of a hybrid....
Some T-6 aspects there, but it actually has a closer resemblance to a T-28. Kind of scary, since the T-28 was tricycle gear. But this may be just an art department special. The angles do look like the plane is a taildragger.
I'll guess we'll find out in November.
Ron Wanttaja
Last edited by rwanttaja; 06-12-2019 at 11:03 AM.
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