That airplane
Does anybody know what kind of aircraft that was supposed to be? It looked like a C-54 fuselage with odd looking jet engines installed in a strange location.
shareThe rear mounted engines reminded me a little of a 727, but 1964 was a little early for that particular plane. Also, having the engines actually mounted on the tail surfaces is pretty silly from an aerodynamic standopoint. There was also that odd dip in the inner wing surface. My guess is the production designer wanted something that looked like a modern jet (circa 1964) but that didn't resemble an actual aircraft too closely so as not to stigmatize a real plane. I've never read the novel the movie is based on - maybe there was some detailed description in the book.
shareThere never was such an airplane. As far as the novel is concerned, it wasn't a novel; it's more an autobiography. Ernie sold the rights to the studio, but the only thing that resembles the movie is the title. He took them to court, but he lost. I've read the book four or five times. It is a classic.
The comment about the engines on the tail is strange to me. I'm a captain on a Douglas DC-9, and the aerodynamics seem just fine. If you read the book you will notice that Ernie never mentions American Airlines. He mentions every other carrier, and it made me wonder why. It turns out that he was an AA pilot himself. The people he talks about in the book are just as real. After I went to work for the same airline I found a book in operations with pictures of the old pilots. They were all there including Ernie. This book is a bible for airline pilots.
I read some where That The producers couldn't get an airline to give them a plane cause they didn't want to be associated with a movie about an air crash, Boeing and other production companies didn't want any of thier airframes used for the same reason.
Thats why the plane always looked wierd It was put together out of spare parts. Different wings, engines whatever You never really see it flying, except at the crash otherwise its being pulled around
I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than driving with Ted Kennedy
I was looking at a website dealing with the "Planet Of The Apes" spscecraft set, and parked alongside it in the early 70s was the plane from "Fate Is The Hunter"
http://cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/ApesShip/Personal/PofAaccounts.html
It has square windows, so the fuselage and wings probably came from a DC-6 (most DC-4sbegan life as C-54s and had round windows) or DC-7 and the studio did the rest.
"The comment about the engines on the tail is strange to me. I'm a captain on a Douglas DC-9, and the aerodynamics seem just fine."
I think what the poster meant was the way the engines were stuck on the rear stabs themselves rather than on some kind of pylom as on the DC-9 and other rear engined planes.
The plane was just what the studio could cobble together from what they had to work with.
You can see how they mocked up a pitot on the tail a la 707 and gave it swept wings in the shots of the minature when it's supposedly taxiing--just a bunch of stuff to try to make it look what would pass for a jet airliner to 1964 audiences.
The production obviously doctored some airplane for this particular look. This plane would be a short haul jet like a 737 is for us now.
But they had two copies it appears, the full sized one that Glenn Ford appears to fly and the rebuilt-from the-crash one. Some bad looking miniatures are seen during the air shots and crashing shots.
I think the production knew that they'd have people saying, "no that's not a Douglas plane" or any other recognizable one for obvious reasons. No reason to scare the potential customers out there.
Those engines with the multiple exhause nozzles looks like science fiction--in fact their production designer worked for science fiction shows on TV--and then you see a boom extending from the nose, which isn't a feature of any jet then or now.
I'm glad I never booked a seat on Consolidated 22 or anywhere else that plane went!
Those exhaust nozzles slightly resemble the noise attenuators used on the Convair 880.
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