Simviation Forums

Has anyone seen the trailers for the upcoming movie called 'Red Tails' based on the Tuskegee Airmen? It looks interesting, but I hesitate because hollywood always manages to screw up history, war, and aviation movies. I'm tempted to cough up the cash to go see this one in the theater.

Theater release is this Jan 20

The teaser trailer was shown for the first time at Oskosh this past summer when George Lucas came to the airshow. The facts might be off, but the visuals and audio quality is high enough I will see it regardless of accuracy, at the very least it should be entertaining.

Presumably this is a remake of the original?

My biggest disappointment is I have heard all of the flying scenes are CG, there were no real aircraft used.  Especially now, with P-51C "Red Tail" actually flying, you would think they could have done better.

[quote]My biggest disappointment is I have heard all of the flying scenes are CG, there were no real aircraft used.

[quote]My biggest disappointment is I have heard all of the flying scenes are CG, there were no real aircraft used.

I hear what you're saying, but while we would all love to have modern movies depicting aviation history filled with authentic and real airworthy aircraft, it may simply be impossible, especially with that scale. The costs, risks, and logistics required may be too much. Besides, look up how many airworthy examples are left with some of those aircraft. In the case of the ME-262, i'm not aware of any airworthy models left.

So if technology can realistically and digitally recreate flying scenes in movies, i'm all for it. The biggest thing we should fear is hollywood screwing up facts and the storyline.

I agree with what you're saying Andrew. It would be very difficult to make an aviation war movie using all real aircraft nowadays. However, there are at least a couple of airworthy examples of the Me 262 in the US. http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html
(Just noticed the site hasn't been updated since 2009)

Even the old classic aviation films used models & animated sequences when it was impossible to get the sheer numbers of aircraft required for combat scenes. Also the equivalent of the "blue screen" technique. Some of the effects used in these films were very primitive compared with today's standards. A lot of the real aircraft used for flying sequences in those old films were not what they appeared to be. The Harvard & Tiger Moth are two examples of aircraft that have been drastically modified for use in films. Only aircraft enthusiasts would spot them & the average punter will not know the difference anyway.

Ironically the 1969 classic "Battle of Britain" film was responsible for the warbird restoration industry we have today. Without that film a lot of the aircraft on the current display circuit would have been sent to the scrapyard years ago.

This clip shows how good GCI can be. There are no airworthy examples of the DH Mosquito anywhere in the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNJ8rIEPLOo