MovieChat Forums > Immortal Sergeant (1943) Discussion > Aircraft Used in this Film

Aircraft Used in this Film

posted 16 years ago by eThink
5 replies | jump to latest

There were three scenes where aircraft were used in this film. Nobne of these aircraft were accurate in terms of country of origin or in the their functional role.

1. The three Italian planes that attached the column
- These planes appeared to be some form of US Advance Trainer. Two seater
with radial engines. Definately NOT North American AT-6. Maybe Vultee?

2. The British Scout plane that drops the message and btandy to the patrol
- Looks like a civilian sport plane. Inline engine and fixed landing gear

3. The German "Junkers" transport
- Not German or Junkers. Looks like a DC-2 with a different tail. This is the
same plane that is used in the John Wayne film "Flying Tigers" to bomb
that Japanese train at the end of the movie.

Steve

[–] eThink 16 years ago

The German aircraft that lands at the oasis and described by Henry Fonda as a "large transport, a Junkers" is actually a Capellis XC-12 http://aerofiles.com/capelis.jpg.

This one-off aircraft was also used in the movie "Flying Tigers" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034742/

According to the IMDB Message Board for Flying Tigers, this same aircraft may also have been used in the movie "Three Came Home"

[–] garrettfive 15 years ago

GENTLEMEN,
Thank you for the insight of experience used in identifying this aircraft. I have never seen it before and wondered how I would find a way to "make" it without a photo or Ground Observer Corps handbook. May all your skies be blue and landings smooth...MovieJim

[–] avnrulz 10 years ago

Garrett, I agree...it was 1943, the middle of the war...to criticize the film makers for not having the enemy's aircraft is ridiculous.

BOHICA America!

[–] goleafsgo27 10 years ago

Ridiculous eh? Well, I'll have you know that the shoe laces worn by Fonda's character were not the proper type issued to Canadians serving with the British in N.Africa that year, making this film utterly absurd and without any credibility.
But seriously, it is pretty funny when folks fail to understand the nature of these wartime booster films. "I say old chum, no access to a full range of Nazi warplanes in Hollywood at the height of the war? Dash."

I have seen enough to know I have seen too much. -- ALOTO

[–] pfarnell 9 years ago

it is a wartime film...they would be hard-pressed to even come up with accurate models of enemy aircraft, let alone authentic enemy aircraft...

rememeber, these are also pre CGI days..

I took them for NA Harvard type planes possibly, with undercarriage down to resemble Axis types such as Stukas...although they looked a little squat for Harvard/Wirraway type airplanes..the other outside possibilities I thought of were Republic P43s or Curtiss P36s...both were well and truly obsolete by 1943 but obtaining such planes wartime for movie makers would still have not been easy, so trainers are the most likely bet..

they might even be some civilian types such as Ryans...