The official AHF (WW2 and pre-WW2) movie trivia quiz thread

[Simon K]

BTW Phylo..is it Ill met by moonlight?

[phylo_roadking]

I'd missed the hint request earlier!

Yes, it is indeed Ill Met by Moonlight The stretch of road is more commonly seen nowadays on the telly with supercars whizzing back and forth on it!

[Marcus]

As Simon is away from the forum, can someone please post a new question to get things moving, thanks.

/Marcus

[Sewer King]

We've mentioned earlier that the film Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) caused a small security scare for accurately depicting the crew stations of a Boeing B-52 strategic bomber.

What other popular film of this time (after Dr. Strangelove) caused a similar small concern, for using a specially-equipped CIA aircraft from the Cold War?

-- Alan

[Sewer King]

Hint: the aircraft was fitted with a Skyhook retrieval system, then only recently in use in a number of clandestine operations. Although flown for CIA-related work the plane itself was not identified and certainly not credited as such in this well-known film.

-- Alan

[DNS]

Hello, I have heard that an MC-130 was used in the film "Airport 1975". Have not actually seen the film though, so it remains a guess.

DNS

[Sewer King]

No, it was earlier than Airport 1975. I remember that film in the "Airport" series when it came out. But I only saw it later on TV, and I think that was an attempt to deliver a pilot to the ruptured cockpit while the endangered 747 was in flight?

The Skyhook system appears in one of another well-known movie series that, in fact, continues to this day. The unmarked plane had been a bomber remade for civilian use. Later it was equipped with Skyhook for one of the CIA's air services, just as you see it in the film today. A little research on the clues to date should lead toward the answer.

-- Alan

[DNS]

How about the 007 series, "Thunderball", filmed in 1965.

DNS

[Sewer King]

Correct! The James Bond film Thunderball (1965).

Skyhook retrieval was designed in the 1950s and used in a number of agent operations (Operation COLDFEET). Fitted to an old civilian B-17, it was flown for the film by the CIA-front air service Intermountain Aviation. The dummies that it picked up for the shot were unable to be taken in by the system’s winch and they had to be dragged and bounced down the runway when the plane landed.

The best single account of this real-life spy equipment used in Thunderball is in the book by Curtis Peebles, Twilight Warriors: Covert Air Operations against the USSR (Naval Institute Press, 2005), pages 193-224. Some CIA officials were incensed that their Skyhook-equipped B-17 had been used in the film, but the concern proved unfounded since the device itself was already openly demonstrated for the US Air Force and US Forest Service.

Reportedly this very B-17 still survives today as a warbird in flying condition, in Oregon’s Evergreen Aviation Museum, though there may be dispute about the plane's serial numbers.

====================

Over to DNS for the next question!

-- Alan

[DNS]

Huzza!

Unfortunately, I don't have a question lined up yet, so ill hand it off to any one with a question.

Cheers
DNS

[DNS]

Having had some time, I recently heard a fun fact which I think will do well. And will hopefully keep the thread going.


This Movie had over 15,000 extras, and 1,000,000 props, making it quite a project.
Whats that famous title.


Good Luck
DNS

[waldorf]

Ben Hur

[DNS]

Correct!

Your turn Waldorf

[waldorf]

Sorry for the delay.

Over 200 horses were killed during filming, resulting in the US Congress passing new laws to protect animals used in motion pictures. What was the name of the film?

Regards,

Chris

[Galahad]

That's got to be the 1930's Errol Flynn movie, The Charge of the Light Brigade.