Fly in Movies!

[CaptainCub]

Just the other night my local PBS station ran a show about drive in movies and there was an interesting part about how in California some enterprising operator set up an air strip nearby so pilots of Cessnas and other small aircraft could land, taxi to a special area behind the cars, and watch the show!  Afterwards, a tractor would tow your plane back to the strip so you could take off again. In the picture they showed, there was a pair of Cessna 140s, a cub, and I think an Aircoupe. I'm going to see what other info I can find on this, as it seems a cool idea, one that wouldn't fly today due to insurance regs and what not.

[Hagar]

Interesting. I always thought of drive-in movies as an American phenomenon & even then possibly confined to parts of the US like California. This would be for two main reasons. The unreliable weather & the fact that not many ordinary people in Europe could afford cars at the time they became popular. Certainly not the teenagers we saw in Hollywood films of the period. It was a completely different world.

Just found this. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980121.htm

An interesting innovation was the combination drive-in and fly-in theater. On June 3, 1948, Edward Brown, Junior opened the first theater for cars and small planes. Ed Brown's Drive-In and Fly-In of Asbury Park, New Jersey had the capacity for 500 cars and 25 airplanes. An airfield was placed next to the drive-in and planes would taxi to the last row of the theater. When the movies were over, Brown provided a tow for the planes to be brought back to the airfield.

[Apex]

We used to have drive-in movies here in Miami Florida back in the 50's and 60's, uhhh, actually, the last time I went to one was in 1974.  They have all disappeared, takes up a lot of land area, and probably as time went on weren't profitable, also shopping mall cinemas took over.  There were probably drive ins all over the US back then.

[murjax]

[quote]Just the other night my local PBS station ran a show about drive in movies and there was an interesting part about how in California some enterprising operator set up an air strip nearby so pilots of Cessnas and other small aircraft could land, taxi to a special area behind the cars, and watch the show!

[beaky]

The first fly-in theater was in New Jersey, actually...


(from this site:  )

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980121.htm

An interesting innovation was the combination drive-in and fly-in theater. On June 3, 1948, Edward Brown, Junior opened the first theater for cars and small planes. Ed Brown's Drive-In and Fly-In of Asbury Park, New Jersey had the capacity for 500 cars and 25 airplanes. An airfield was placed next to the drive-in and planes would taxi to the last row of the theater. When the movies were over, Brown provided a tow for the planes to be brought back to the airfield.


You could sort of revive this concept without much insurance nonsense simply by building a drive-in area adjacent to a runway... but drive-ins in general are not much of a money-maker anymore. too bad- it's a fun way to watch a movie. I saw that documentary also; very well-done and it brought back some happy memories.

When I hit the lottery and build my dream airstrip I'll be sure to put up a screen for fly-in movie nights... nothing but aviation-themed movies, of course...  ;)

[BFMF]

If you were to take your wife or girlfriend to a fly-in movie and watch 'Alive', do you think she would fly back home with you?

[Willit Run]

Tuesday June 6, 1933 the first Drive-In Theater opens in Camden, New Jersey!  Showing "Wife Beware".  We use to go to the drive-ins all the time!! Now I don,t think there are even any open around here anymore. What a shame!


 I've been to a float-in theater i guess you would call it!  My friend's parents had a boat in Maryland and the was a place where you could pull you boat in and watch a movie on the big screen.  It was pretty cool!!

 Cory

[H]

My family's previous generation remembers, "Drive-ins were everywhere -- but no more." However, some lingered into the 1990s, even if not in use. Beatrice, Nebraska, had one east of town and Hastings, Nebraska, had one in a residential area (not when first set up) that the nearby locals could watch from their homes. The area where the one in my home town was located is now a shopping mall and there was an ice cream shoppe just across the way where one could get the more uncommon flavors of tutti-frutti, blueberry (sounds good to me), pistachio, peppermint swirl, maple walnut (my mom's favorite) and more. My parents frequented but I don't know if they liked the shows or the final stop at the ice cream shoppe best.

8-)

[Mobayrasta1]

There are only a few drive ins left in the US. I went to one in Gary Indiana a few years ago when I was attending a wedding. Had so much fun went back the next night also.

When I lived in Alameda California we had one within walking distance from my house. My friends and I went all the time.

[Mobayrasta1]

http://www.driveintheater.com/drivlist.htm


List of drive-in's by state

[FSGT Gabe]

Sounds like a cool idea...but you'd have a bad view behind all of the cars...

- Kevin

[H]

Sounds like a cool idea...but you'd have a bad view behind all of the cars...
- Kevin

Depends upon what was going on in the cars ahead of you -- but, if you'd rather watch the show movie, the movie screen is very large and mounted well above the height of the vehicles.

8-)