In the last scene... Knute Rockne boards what is supposed to be a Fokker F-10 aircraft that would ultimately crash due to loosing it's wing while flying thru a storm. The plane pictured is a Ford Tri Motor which was all metal. The Fokker's wings were wood covered in fabric. The scene were the farmer hears the plane roar over and eventually crash is plowing his field in sunshine. The plane crashed in the middle of a storm!
OOps... both I and the movie producers goofed. Right before they left the terminal, there was a comment about an impending storm. The Fokker F-10 broke up in clear weather due to fatigue cracks in its famous cantilever stressed plywood wing, around where one of the engine mounting struts joined. This plane crash led to the grounding of Fokker F-10 aircraft, after finding similar cracks in other planes. This led to the end of using wood and the evolution of the all metal airliner... the Boeing 247 and the DC-1 DC-2 and the great DC-3.
shareI'm just wondering aloud but maybe the film's producers could not find a Fokker F-10 since they had been pulled from use after the crash that killed Mr. Rockne and the others.
Terry Thomas
Character Actor and Film Unit Stills Photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
www.TerryThomasPhotos.com
... maybe the film's producers could not find a Fokker F-10 since they had been pulled from use after the crash ...I believe you are right, because the Fokker F-10 never flew again commercially after the accident. You would think they could have found some archive footage of the plane like they did for many of the football scenes.
I think you meant "...losing its wing..."
shareyou are correct about the Fokker but incorrect about the storm... conditions had cleared.
check this out: http://www.findadeath.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22667
The biggest flub is casting Pat O'Brien, who was 40, but looked 50, as someone in his 20s. I guess all the athletic young guys in 1940 were off fighting in the war, but you still have a nagging, "there's something TOTALLY wrong with this picture" feeling all the way through the film.
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