Various real-world aircraft have long made significant appearances in fictional works, including books, films, toys, TV programs, video games, and other media.
History The first aviation film was the 1911 William J. Humphrey–directed two-reeler, The Military Air-Scout, shot after an Aero Club of America flying meet at Long Island, New York. The stunt flying was done by Lt. Henry H. Arnold, "who picked up 'a few extra bucks' for his services" and "became so excited about movies that he almost quit the Army to become an actor."
The years between World War I and World War II saw extensive use of aircraft, a new technology, in film, a new medium. In the early 1920s, Hollywood studios made dozens of now-obscure "aerial Westerns" with leads such as Tom Mix and Hoot Gibson, where the role of the horse was taken by aircraft, or used aircraft as nothing more than vehicles for stunts to excite audiences. In 1926, the first "proper" aviation film was made; Wings is a story of two pilots who sign up to fly and fight in the First World War. Made with the cooperation of the United States' then-Department of War (a relationship that continues to this day), it used front-line military aircraft of the day such as the Thomas-Morse MB-3 and Boeing PW-9, flown by military pilots. Future U.S. Air Force generals Hap Arnold and Hoyt Vandenberg were among the military officers involved with the production: Arnold as a technical consultant and Vandenberg as one of the pilots. Wings was a box-office hit when it achieved general release in 1929 and went on to win the award for Best Production at the first Academy Awards.
In Fascist Italy in the 1930s, aviation-themed films were used as propaganda tools to complement the massed flights led by Italo Balbo in promoting the regime domestically and abroad. One such film was the most successful Italian film of the pre-World War II era; Luciano Serra pilota (Luciano Serra, Pilot) was inextricably linked to the Fascist government via Mussolini's son Vittorio, who was the driving force behind the film's production. The film, set between 1921 and the Italo-Abyssinian War, was used to compare the allegedly moribund state of aviation in pre-Fascist Italy with the purported power of the Regia Aeronautica and Italian aviation in general in the 1930s. However, by the time that Luciano Serra pilota was shown at the 1938 Venice Film Festival, the link between aviation and Fascism had already been firmly established in the minds of the Italian people through widespread depictions of aircraft in a variety of media. For example, there was an entire branch of the Futurist Art movement devoted to aviation, known as Aeropittura ("Aeropainting"). While many of the Aeropittura works were devoted to flight rather than aircraft per se, some did celebrate Italian aviation exploits, such as Alfredo Ambrosi's Il volo su Vienna (The Flight over Vienna) which depicted in Futurist style the World War I exploit of Gabriele d'Annunzio; although the city of Vienna is shown in abstract in accordance with the aims of Aeropittura – namely to show the dynamism and excitement of flight – the Ansaldo SVA aircraft are carefully and accurately rendered.
The U.S. military controls whether its aircraft may be used for movie or video production. Requests for such use must be accompanied by the proposed production's script, allowing military officials to withhold aircraft when they believe the work will not portray the U.S. military in a sufficiently positive light. Because alternatives to using real military aircraft can be expensive, films that do not get U.S. military approval often do not get financed or made. Sean McElwee, writing for Salon.com, concluded of this problem, This is a prima facie case for de facto censorship...If the government wants to allow its equipment to be used by studios, it needs to grant access to anyone who wants to use it – that is the meaning of pluralism. The Pentagon fears that some of the movies may hurt the military's reputation and recruiting efforts. These concerns are legitimate, but it's more important that we allow John Stuart Mill's 'market place of ideas' to be a place for free trade, rather than favoring some over others.
Aircraft have also appeared in television miniseries and series around the world. These include the American productions Twelve O'Clock High, Airwolf, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Sky King and Wings; the Australian series Big Sky, Chopper Squad and The Flying Doctors, and the miniseries The Lancaster Miller Affair; British shows such as Airline, Piece of Cake and Squadron, the Canadian series Arctic Air; JETS – Leben am Limit and Medicopter 117 – Jedes Leben zählt from Germany; and the Canadian–British–German co-production Ritter's Cove.
A
A-1 Skyraider Two privately owned Skyraiders depicted U.S. Air Force "Sandy" search-and-rescue escort aircraft in the 1991 film Flight of the Intruder.
A-6 Intruder The 1986 Stephen Coonts novel Flight of the Intruder is about two naval aviators who take their Grumman A-6 Intruder on an unauthorized bombing raid on Hanoi during the Vietnam War. It was made into a 1991 film of the same name.
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The A-10 Thunderbolt II is featured in the 1989 video game A-10 Tank Killer.
A-26/B-26 Invader Two A-26 firebombers were featured in the 1989 Steven Spielberg film Always. Attempts to use radio-controlled models for special effects shots were abandoned as unworkable; instead, models were "flown" from wire rigs.
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was featured in the film The Wind Rises, a 2013 Studio Ghibli animated fictionalized biopic of Zero designer Jiro Horikoshi.
Zero fighters are shown in the 2013 Japanese novel Eien No Zero (The Eternal Zero) by Naoki Hyakuta, which was made into a 2013 film of the same name directed by Takashi Yamazaki.
Aérospatiale Gazelle A heavily modified Aérospatiale Gazelle was the centerpiece of the 1983 John Badham action film Blue Thunder. The same helicopter appeared in the short-lived 1984 TV series by the same name starring James Farentino. The modified Gazelle went on to be used in the TV mini-series Amerika.
AgustaWestland AW101 At the climax of the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, an armed AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin transport helicopter is used in the main villain Silva's assault on Bond and M at Bond's childhood home.
AH-64 Apache The Boeing AH-64 Apache had a major role in the 1990 action-thriller film directed by David Green, Fire Birds (or Wings of the Apache).
The Apache helicopter has also made an appearance in the hardcore study-level sim DCS: World, being praised for its accurate depiction of the systems and procedures.
Airspeed Horsa The assault on what would later be known as the Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal in France by British commandos landing in Airspeed Horsa gliders was depicted in the 1962 war epic The Longest Day. Only one Horsa replica was actually constructed.
Ten non-flyable Airspeed Horsa mockups were fabricated for the filming of the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far.
American Eagle A-1 At least two American Eagle A-1s were employed in the production of the 1930 film Young Eagles which was directed by William A. Wellman and starred Buddy Rogers and Jean Arthur. The film portrayed American pilots serving in France during the Great War. Although the A-1 was a post-WW1 trainer, the filmmakers considered it suitable to portray wartime aircraft. One Eagle was painted with USAS insignia while a second was painted with German markings. Stunt pilot Dick Grace was hired to deliberately crash-land both of them in separate scenes, which severely damaged both aircraft. Grace escaped injury on both occasions.Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies 1912-2012 Bearmanor Media, 2012 pp. 56-58.
Avro Ashton An Avro Ashton, in its six-engined, Olympus testbed form, appeared as the fictitious Phoenix airliner in Cone of Silence (1960), based on the novel of the same name by David Beaty, a former BOAC pilot. This concerned the takeoff problems of the Phoenix, and the subsequent accident investigation; it was based on two takeoff accidents to the de Havilland Comet.
Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow makes a prominent appearance in Daniel Wyatt's 1990 novel, The Last Flight of the Arrow. In the novel, the real-life destruction of the fighter is a cover for a secret U.S.-Canadian continental air-defense initiative that fields a fleet of Arrows. A Polish-Canadian Royal Canadian Air Force pilot flies one Arrow on a high-speed reconnaissance flight over Russia to find proof that the Soviet Union is planning an airstrike on North America.
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster was the best-known Royal Air Force heavy bomber of World War II.RAF BBMF - The Lancaster Retrieved 14 March 2017
Lancasters appeared in the 1952 British war film Appointment in London (released in the US as Raiders in the Sky) directed by Philip Leacock and starring Dirk Bogarde.
Avro Vulcan Avro Vulcans are central to the 2008 aviation novel by English author Derek Robinson, titled Hullo Russia, Goodbye England. A British RAF pilot named Silk, a veteran of Bomber Command in the Second World War, rejoins the service at the height of the Cold War.
The 1965 James Bond film Thunderball portrays the hijacking of an Avro Vulcan for its nuclear bombs.
B
B-17 Flying Fortress
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses appear in the 1951 novel The Sun is Silent by Saul Levitt which traces the journey of a B-17 crew from their training through to daylight bombing missions over Germany. The author himself had served as a radioman/gunner in a B-17 during the war.Wald, Alan M. Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Anti-Fascist Crusade, p. 197. University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
The B-17 Flying Fortress was the subject of the 1990 Warner Bros. film Memphis Belle. During filming, one of the five vintage B-17s was destroyed in an accidental crash and a second was damaged when an engine cowling detached in flight, tearing a chunk out of the aircraft's tail. There were no injuries in either incident.
For George Lucas' 2012 film Red Tails about the 332d Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen, the B-17G "Pink Lady" operated by the Association Forteresse Toujours Volante, appeared as a 351st Bomb Group aircraft named "Yankee", coded ED-N. Filmed in the Czech Republic in 2010, the film company funding allowed the warbird to fly for an additional year before being retired to museum status. Other Flying Fortresses were rendered through CGI.
B-24 Liberator
Consolidated B-24 Liberators appear in the 1944 20th Century Fox film Winged Victory which was directed by George Cukor and which portrayed cadets undergoing training as aircrew in the U.S. Army Air Forces during WW2. The AAF detached several B-24s to the production, which was filmed at Santa Ana Army Airfield in California.Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912-2012. Bearmanor Publishing, 2012. pp. 95-96.
B-24s are a central feature in the 1952 novel Angle of Attack by Joseph Landon. The story concerns navigator Irwin 'Win' Hellman, whose B-24 is attacked by enemy fighters and badly damaged over Vienna. The B-24's pilot signals to the enemy fliers that he wishes to surrender but Hellman, who is Jewish and dreads being captured alive, believes they can still escape and, with the backing of the other crew, he takes command.Harap, Louis. Creative Awakening: The Jewish Presence in Twentieth Century American Literature, 1900-1940s. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987. p. 145.