the aviator

I recall reading about the making of Hells Angels many years ago which listed all the aircraft types featured in the film and where they came from. I’ve tried Googling and drawn a blank, I do recall that actual German twin engined bombers were used that had been brought over to the States for evaluation, which I presume most of the German types had been, I wonder what happened to them all.
I also discovered that all the original coloured versions were lost until one was found in 1989 in John Waynes vault of all places, it’s the only piece of film footage of Jean Harlow in colour apparently.
According to Amazon, the colour version is available on DVD but currently out of stock. Pity they weren’t given away with the Daily Mail.

Been a while since I’ve seen it, but I don’t recall any.

There’s a scene showing the RFC squadron taking on a Zeppelin, and although there’s a two-seater type involved (and shot down), I don’t think it’s a DH4.

Would need to watch it again to be sure, though.

Sorry perhaps I should have been clearer. Some of the videos on the site show some of the digital sequences for the big aerial battle at the end of Hell’s Angels, including an Allied aircraft clipping a camera on the upper wing of the camera aircraft and knocking the film loose! As they fly overhead these aircraft look for all the world like DH4s. Given the fact that it’s all animated and therefore the film makers can be as accurate as they want, I wonder if there were some DH4s masquerading as SE5s or something like that – there would probably have still been a fair few Liberty engined versions kicking around in the States at that time.

I seem to remember reading once that the last time Howard Hughes took the controls of an aeroplane was in the right-hand seat of an HS748 out of Woodford in the early 1970s.
Can anyone thrown any more light on this?

Been a while since I’ve seen it, but I don’t recall any.

There’s a scene showing the RFC squadron taking on a Zeppelin, and although there’s a two-seater type involved (and shot down), I don’t think it’s a DH4.

Would need to watch it again to be sure, though.

Agreed, really good.

One question though. Were there really DH4s in ‘Hell’s Angels’? If so I missed them! Only saw SE5as and Fokker DVIIs.

Some CGI was used for the racer, but much of it was radio controlled model work, as can be seen in this footage at the site I linked to previously:

Video of Radio Control planes for The Aviator

Lots more behind the scenes videos here:

Videos

Excellent stuff!!

According to an article I read at the time, the shots of Di Caprio in the air in the racer were CGI.

Some CGI was used for the racer, but much of it was radio controlled model work, as can be seen in this footage at the site I linked to previously:

Video of Radio Control planes for The Aviator

Lots more behind the scenes videos here:

Videos

The plane was not built for the film.
Its builder/owner had a metalworking firm in Oregon and always admired the Hughes racer, and unlike most of us, had the know-how and means to build one.

It was scheduled to appear in the film, but as you note, was sadly lost in the fatal crash in Yellowstone National Park before that occurred.

According to an article I read at the time, the shots of Di Caprio in the air in the racer were CGI.
After the loss of the replica, the Planes of Fame took one of their planes (a BT-13 or “Tora, Tora, Tora” Japanese replica, if memory serves) and modified it so it would look like the racer from a camera placed in front of the pilot.
Steve Hinton flew the aircraft and then they CG’d Leo’s head on Hinton’s body.
The effect was that you were looking at Hughes from inside the aircraft..it was not meant to imply that the plane was without a canopy.
The film makers weren’t that careless.

But…..

You were looking at ‘Hughes’ from OUTSIDE the aircraft – from a camera position about two feet forward and two feet up – like looking down onto the windscreen/cockpit – minus the canopy.

That’s why it looked so obvious – the ‘real life’ close-up shots were minus the canopy, the CGI ‘whole aircraft’ shots were with a canopy.

Ken

I seem to recall the Hughes Racer replica built for the film…

The plane was not built for the film.
Its builder/owner had a metalworking firm in Oregon and always admired the Hughes racer, and unlike most of us, had the know-how and means to build one.

It was scheduled to appear in the film, but as you note, was sadly lost in the fatal crash in Yellowstone National Park before that occurred.

According to an article I read at the time, the shots of Di Caprio in the air in the racer were CGI.
After the loss of the replica, the Planes of Fame took one of their planes (a BT-13 or “Tora, Tora, Tora” Japanese replica, if memory serves) and modified it so it would look like the racer from a camera placed in front of the pilot.
Steve Hinton flew the aircraft and then they CG’d Leo’s head on Hinton’s body.
The effect was that you were looking at Hughes from inside the aircraft..it was not meant to imply that the plane was without a canopy.
The film makers weren’t that careless.

I seem to recall the Hughes Racer replica built for the film crashed before filming was complete. Maybe that’s why some shots show a canopy and others show an open cockpit? Perhaps one is CGI and one the ‘real’ thing?

I think the plane was flying home from Oshkosh when the engine failed and it crashed in a national park – sadly killing the pilot.

It must surely be one of the most beautiful aeroplanes ever built?

A bit of second-hand history…
The father of my late wife was a business owner in Los Angeles.
His best friend worked for Hughes as his personal aircraft mechanic since the 40s (in the70s he was working on the corporate jet fleet).

He had flown with Howard many times.
He said he was an excellent flyer with a real eye and appreciation for engineering.

I wish I had asked him more about the aircraft he worked on with Hughes…
the sea plane, his private A-20 Havoc, the XF-11?

[QUOTE=Pete Truman;1241771]Are you familiar with the character of the real Katherine Hepburn, I doubt it otherwise you would realise why Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for the role and deservedly so. QUOTE]

Do I know the character of Katherine Hepburn?? Hell, she is/was my favourite film actress of all time – for the past fifty years or more!

Sorry to insult your favourite, but she didn’t resemble or sound like Kate at all.

I just knew my post was going to ruffle some feathers!

Incidentally, as ancient as I am, one of my boyhood heroes was Howard Hughes. His many achievements in aviation, and his flamboyant character, appealed to me as a young lad in the London blitz.

It was good to see that the people who worked for him for many years supported him when his illness took over. I understand that his illness ended when he (fittingly) died on a plane trip.

The part of the film I enjoyed most was when he ‘shot down’ the Senator!

Bri 🙂

Here are two more models used in the film currently at the Evergreen Museum..

Wow… saw the film myself and now having seen the work that went on behind the scenes I’m even more impressed…..

What a pity some of this model making is for destructive purposes – there’s such a lot of skill there.

And yes I know, far better for a model to “bite it” than any real hardware, in any film.

Speaking of models in the film.
At the Evergreen Museum in Oregon (where the flying boat resides) they have a great model of the HK-1 under construction in its assembly hangar. It was used for a quick wide shot of the plant and features people, trucks and various bits of equipment.
For display at the museum, they’ve added cutouts for scale..

The Aviator is actually remarkable for the amount of “old fashioned” model work and it’s quite likely a lot of the CGI you are complaining about wasn’t CGI at all.

As for the lack of canopy for closeups, I doubt that is a mistake, more likely a creative decision to imply the camera was inside the cockpit.

Some nice easily digestible stuff here if anyone’s interested:

http://www.aviatorvfx.com/

I liked the film – I thought Di Caprio portrayed Hughes extremely well.

One thing about CGI though – they must have had two separate teams doing the Hughes racer scenes.

In the close-ups of Hughes in the cockpit, it was an open cockpit – no canopy.

In the longer-range views of the whole – CGI – aircraft, it had a cockpit canopy….. talk about lack of continuity….. 😮

Apart from the laughable ‘lets take the top wing off the (Stearman) biplane’ and the few CGI errors, it was a very enjoyable film.

Ken

“The Aviator”

First time I’d seen this. WHAT a good film!! I especially liked the way that the TWA/Pan Am battle for the transatlantic route was “brought to life”, and the associated political wrangles.
I enjoyed the simulated aviation scenes, and thought them very well done.
Like others, I felt that the ending left us a bit up-in-the air (no pun intended) so far as Howard Huges was concerned, so roll-on part 2!
Regards
Paul

Reckon the S-38 has good enough short-“field” performance to get it onto Gosfield Lake, then? Or is that water-ski jump going to cause problems? I reckon you need at least Hanningfield resevoir…

I must confess to haveing been utterly ignorant of just how big the XF-11 was – almost Lancaster-size. Blimey. And its Republic competitor, the XF-12 was even bigger – that must have been quite a sight!

Adrian

[QUOTE=JDK;1241870]Very seaworthy. Look up ‘Osa’s Ark’. I want one too. And a S-39.

I did, I love it, especially the stripey paint job, I’m just going up the road to do an armed robbery on Barclays so I can buy it, will Cate Blanchett deliver it then give me a lesson!

Funny, my lookalike ex-girlfriend was an aircraft enthusiast, I took her to Legends once and I virtually ignored the flying because of her attraction and eccentricity, to make up for the obvious distraction, she bought us 2 tickets for RIAT a few weeks after, but we did manage to get into the spirit of the thing and actually watch it, well sort of.

I thought that the FX-11 was a great looking aircraft, did the American aircraft industry actually produce successful contra rotating props on their engines and what aircraft were ‘armed’ with these.
I’m not a great expert on this subject, but the RR Griffons spring to mind as being proven on the Shack and other beasts, and we have the double Mamba on the Gannet, how efficient were these engines service and performance wise.