x planes

Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/08/watch-this-test-footage-from-dog-fighting-movie-war-birds/#ixzz0ZBToIPLO

Warbirds

“The story follows an Air Force veteran-turned-reckless airshow re-enactment pilot who gets pulled into the world of illegal aerial combat. Shooting is scheduled for next summer in Michigan using real airplanes and aerial sequences. War Birds will be directed by first-time filmmaker Michael Chait. The script was originally written by Josh Staman and Bryan Binder, but writers J. Todd Harris (Bottle Shock) and Richard Jefferies (Tron Legacy) will be polishing the final draft. Oscar winning Titanic cinematographer Russell Carpenter (of 21 and The Ugly Truth recently) will serve as a visual consultant as well. Expect this in theaters by 2011.” (firstshowing.net)

some very nice footage here, along with some awful explosion/crash special effects - though I’m sure this is very much a test/proof reel

(one of my favourite crash f/x has always been the Russian helicopter at the start of A View to a Kill - here (4:35 in))

December 09, 2009, 4:32pm

sunday fantasy #168: more Avatar, from the new trailer

November 01, 2009, 9:21pm

Hell’s Angels

October 05, 2009, 9:49pm

aviation giant Roscoe Turner poses in front of the Hell’s Angels Gotha

stunt pilot Ira Reed is behind him. Reed almost died in a mid-air collision during the filming of the movie..

October 05, 2009, 7:21pm

Film production crew and cast pose in front of the Sikorsky S-29, modified to resemble a German Gotha bomber, which was used in the 1930 Howard Hughes movie Hell’s Angels

When looking back at the life of Hughes, it is easy to become lost in a mire of recollections, rumours, accusations, Leo DeCaprio - and of course that Simpsons episode..

For the World War One based Hell’s Angels, Hughes - aged just 23 - basically assembled the world’s largest private air force - approximately ninety aircraft - at a cost of around $600,000

For the scene in which the Gotha bomber (above) was shot down, Hughes insisted that the aircraft be put into a spin - with the aircrew bailing out if necessary. Daredevil pilot Al Wilson accepted, for the sum of $10,000. A mechanic named Phil Jones volunteered to be his assistant, releasing black smoke to simulate the aircraft being hit by gunfire. Jones lost his life when the aircraft fell to earth during the filming of the scene.

Two other stunt pilots died whilst involved with the movie, including Al Johnson of the legendary 13 Black Cats. Hughes himself was injured crashing a plane (allegedly whilst trying to micro-manage his stunt pilots in the air)

Annoyingly, the advent of the talking picture during production meant that Hughes had to reshoot large sections of the film with dialogue - and cast the largely unknown Jean Harlow to replace the existing female lead.

The film ended up costing Hughes a record $4 million to make. Despite a spectacular premiere and warm reviews, it is believed that the movie takings did not recoup the costs for at least a couple of decades..

October 05, 2009, 5:35pm

May 8, 1925. Washington, D.C. ” ‘Yorktown.’ Christening of Sikorsky plane.”

“This aircraft is the S-29A (The A stands for first Sikorsky model built in America). It was eventually sold to famed stunt pilot Roscoe Turner, who in turn sold it to Howard Hughes. Hughes had it disguised as a WWI German Gotha bomber, and it was crashed (spun in) during the filming of Hells Angels.”

October 05, 2009, 8:51am

sunday fantasy #155

October 05, 2009, 12:23am

“American actor Ormer Locklear (1891-1920), wearing a tuxedo, walks on the wings of an airplane crashed in a farmer’s field in a still from director James P. Hogan’s silent film, ‘The Skywayman’. Locklear died while performing an aerial maneuver during nighttime shooting for the movie.”

September 28, 2009, 11:23pm

sunday fantasy #130: Avatar, 2009

August 24, 2009, 2:01am

sunday fantasy #129: prop from The 6th Day (2000)

August 24, 2009, 1:57am

sunday fantasy #128

Russian tilt-rotor mock-up/prop for an unknown American TV/Movie project circa 2008. Can anyone shed any more light on this?

(via the secretprojects forum, who didn’t get to the bottom of this - a rare occurence)

August 23, 2009, 11:03pm

sunday fantasy #127: Firefox (1982)

August 23, 2009, 9:04pm

sunday fantasy #126

August 23, 2009, 7:39pm

sunday fantasy #125: Blue Thunder (1983)
(via)

August 23, 2009, 5:09pm

sunday fantasy #124: Casshern (2004)

August 23, 2009, 4:36pm