P-51's in movie "Empire of the Sun"

I was watching "Empire of the Sun" the other night and near the end some
P-51's attack the Japanese base. What struck me was that the P-51's were
flying in just a few feet above the ground and dropping their bombs. Would
this really have been done? How did the planes keep from blowing themselves
up?

zxcv wrote:
I was watching "Empire of the Sun" the other night and near the end some
P-51's attack the Japanese base. What struck me was that the P-51's were
flying in just a few feet above the ground and dropping their bombs. Would
this really have been done? How did the planes keep from blowing themselves
up?


Fly real fast? I'm not sure about the bombing, but I do know the P-51s in that
movie were actually radio controlled models. Looked pretty good, too.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN


http://www.mortimerschnerd.com

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:52:10 -0500, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
wrote:

zxcv wrote:
I was watching "Empire of the Sun" the other night and near the end some
P-51's attack the Japanese base. What struck me was that the P-51's were
flying in just a few feet above the ground and dropping their bombs. Would
this really have been done? How did the planes keep from blowing themselves
up?


Fly real fast? I'm not sure about the bombing, but I do know the P-51s in that
movie were actually radio controlled models. Looked pretty good, too.

There were no doubt, models used but there were also real (full-size)
Mustangs used in the footage. I seem to recall reading in one of
the aviation trade rags about some of the "low level" flying done in
the movie, and how the pilots thoroughly enjoyed it.

Bela P. Havasreti

Subject: P-51's in movie "Empire of the Sun"
From: "zxcv"
Date: 3/18/2004 2:56 PM Mountain Standard Time
Message-id:

I was watching "Empire of the Sun" the other night and near the end some
P-51's attack the Japanese base. What struck me was that the P-51's were
flying in just a few feet above the ground and dropping their bombs. Would
this really have been done? How did the planes keep from blowing themselves
up?


One of the pilots who did some of the flying in the movie, Tom Danaher, was
also given a role in the movie as an commanding officer that arrives to
liberate an internment camp. Tom flew fighters in WW2, and is credited with
the last shootdown of a Japanese bomber in WW2.

He was flying in movies up till very recently, having been in Air America, Out
of Africa, and an IMAX movie about the amazon. He might still be ferrying
aircraft over the pond, but not sure if he is anymore.

He has some history also regarding offshore UK pirate radio stations in the
60s.

http://www.bestaero.com/features/danaher/potm.htm


Ron
Tanker 65, C-54E (DC-4)

Dropping bombs *accurately that way is something else.

Iin the 50s the USN called it Seaman's Eye Bombing. Did it in P2Vs. Proptips
maybe 3 - 5 feet above the water. Damnably accurate!

Quent

(QDurham) wrote:

Dropping bombs *accurately that way is something else.

Iin the 50s the USN called it Seaman's Eye Bombing. Did it in P2Vs. Proptips
maybe 3 - 5 feet above the water. Damnably accurate!

Quent

Damnably impossible I'd say...the rules say 100 feet for 'pilot
bombing' and while this figure was likely (certainly) broken a
_few_ times nobody actually flew _knowingly_ with the prop tips
"3 to 5" feet above the water in a P2V. Trust me.
--

-Gord.

Damnably impossible I'd say...the rules say 100 feet for 'pilot bombing' and
while this figure was likely (certainly) broken a _few_ times nobody actually
flew _knowingly_ with the prop tips
"3 to 5" feet above the water in a P2V. Trust me.

Sorry Gordo. Been there. Done that. Seaman's Eye bombing as well as mining
operations. Propwash in water. The Navy likes water. "Stay low and you can't
possibly fall very far."

We were "mining" Buckner Bay, Okinawa, once upon a time, leaving a propwash
wake in the water while the AF was up looking for us visually in F86s. Heard
one jet pilot say "I'm all the way down to 5 thousand feet. Wonder where they
are." Then another say something like "I'm down here in Australia. I'll go up
to Alaska and see if they are hiding behind a polar bear," or some such. Whish
whish zippy-zippy zoom-zoom!

We were at 5 feet. They never saw us. Hope we have better anti-mining
techniques now than we had then. Scary. If we could do that in barely 200+ kt
prop planes on a clear day with defense given time of arrival and looking for
us visually, what could the bad guys do on a dark and stormy night? Scary.

Quent (VP 29)

We were at 5 feet. They never saw us. Hope we have better anti-mining
techniques now than we had then. Scary. If we could do that in barely 200+ kt
prop planes on a clear day with defense given time of arrival and looking for
us visually, what could the bad guys do on a dark and stormy night? Scary.

Quent (VP 29)

See my question to Gord about ground effect. Is it really there, as a
cushion, or is that a myth?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (requires authentication)

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

In article ,
Cub Driver wrote:


See my question to Gord about ground effect. Is it really there, as a
cushion, or is that a myth?

Ground effect is a reduction in drag....not a "cushion" the repels you
from the earth.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

See my question to Gord about ground effect. Is it really there, as a
cushion, or is that a myth?

absolutely, it is there. get down low enough over flat seas and you can feel
'something', akin to being on a down bed, held over a hard bed.

G