Got to admit two of my guilty pleasures are "633 Squadron" and "Battle of
Britain"...both good movies featuring planes that are very rare, nowadays.
I've got a copy of a 1960's book titled, "The Making of the Battle of
Britain," and getting those air fleets together was a fascinating process.
Having the CAF pilots work directly with the Spanish was a good idea
because they spoke the language, what they DIDN'T think of is that the
Texans spoke it was a rather strong Mexican accent...

This is always a rich topic. I could mention "Twelve O'Clock High" as my
all-time favorite (I also have 78 episodes of the TV series on tape). "The
Blue Max" is another fun one. One of my regrets is that a lot of the
flying films from the silent era aren't readily available; they not only
often had the original-type planes to fly, they had so many of them that
they used a lot of crash sequences as well.

"Wings" is one of the exceptions, and is a lot of fun, especially
considering it's pre-Hayes Board (the rather prudish censorship imposed in
the early '30s). Also, watch the rudder of the SPAD when it flips on its
back; the director wanted to keep the camera rolling as the dust settled,
and they arranged to have the pilot kick the rudder to show he was OK and
could wait for a while for a recovery team.

Of perhaps more immediate interest is non-flying films that include scenes
or subplots of interest to the pilot. "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" is
a classic example, with Paul Mantz flying the twin Beech through the
billboard. "The World According to Garp" has a Champ fly into the second
story of a house. The more-recent "Secondhand Lions" has a minor plotline
relative to the restoration of a decrepit Stearman (and its demise should
strike a grin among any pilot watching). And Richard would throttle me if
I didn't mention "Fandango" with its outrageous skydiving sequence.

As a final kicker along these lines, let me suggest pushing the envelope a
bit: "Kiki's Delivery Service." Yes, it's a Japanese cartoon about a
young broom-flying witch. But one of her friends is a young boy obsessed
with flight, trying to build his own airplane and wangle his way onto a
visiting Zeppelin for a ride. And the main theme is the effect of the
witch's *loss* of her ability to fly...something most of us can sympathize
with. If your wife/girlfriend is complaining about the blood-and-guts
movies you typically rent, here's a chance to pick up a few brownie points.
It's not that accurate, aviation-wise, but how often do you get to see
scenes of a witch flying chase for a homebuilt plane?

Joe-Ron says check it out....

Ron Wanttaja