What type of helicopter was blue thunder

A March 8, article highlighting the downtown battle scene, sent to Bayard by a friend in Los Angeles; contributed by Bayard Lawes, Dec. Two photos of the original Gazelle helicopter used in the movie; contributed by Bayard Lawes, Dec. Bayard notes that: "I had to lay around San Diego for about a week for funds to transfer to the bank.

Rough duty. But the true "star" of the movie is Blue Thunder itself. To build it, the production company purchased a French Gazelle Aerospatiale helicopter, which can fly at speeds of MPH, and added several prop gimmicks to it.

The weight of the Blue Thunder modifications the very angular canopy, gun turret, and additional "wings" on the side made the weight very heavy, especially as the original Aerospatiale SAG Gazelle was never designed to fly with additional weight added to it.

The first helicopter to ever truly do a complete degree loop in real life was in fact, a Sikorsky S in Here's a YouTube video clip to prove it. To give Blue Thunder as realistic a look as possible, John Badham mounted cameras on the helicopters, flew them over downtown Los Angeles and shot his daytime close-ups in the sky. It wasn't an easy accomplishment. The production crew had to work on weekends, with the police cordoning off up to 12 blocks at a time. The procedure involved stopping traffic both motorized and pedestrian for three-minute periods while shooting took place.

Circulation was then allowed to resume for 15 minutes, before another lensing session began. The pilot was okay. He had the tremendous skill to be able to put the helicopter down safely. But who knows what would have happened had there been people under there! I was right up there with it in an adjacent helicopter, and it was terrifying. All was not gloom and doom on the set of Blue Thunder. Badham fondly remembers Malcolm McDowell's fear of flying.

He used to get out and throw up after a flight. But he was also professional enough to get right back in! I had to re-shoot a few scenes, because there were some times when Malcolm's eyes would get wide as saucers. He had held his composure all through the shot, his face would be all stern, but there would be those great big eyes.

It was very funny. His wife, Mary Steenburgen, told us, 'I don't know how you got him up there, I can't even get him in a ! Note: Two helicopters were used in filming; one as a backup. Hughes Helicopters was the company hired to convert the Gazelle into Blue Thunder. Their main goal of course, was to make the helicopter appear as menacing as possible. Bullet Points: Velocity Trap. Skip to content 10 Things You Didn't Know. Share this: Share Tweet.

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Bullet Points: Convoy 4 May, Alameda Avenue. It opened May 12, , with space for cars and with a 50 foot wide screen. It was best known as the site of the premiere of Blazing Saddles As it was located a half mile east of Walt Disney Studios and yards from the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, it was on prime real estate and with the fall-off in theater attendance, it became insolvent.

It was closed September 10, and was torn down the following month. It is now the location of the Rancho Marketplace shopping center. In May of , helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald performed the loop over Manhattan, along with barrel rolls and other seemingly impossible stunts.

He was flying a Airbus Eurocopter ASB2 owned by Helistar and performed the maneuvers as a publicity stunt for an energy drink. Filmed early in but not released until The film's opening prologue states: "The hardware, weaponry and surveillance systems depicted in this film are real and in use in the United States today. The original draft of the script was re-written to add the character of Cochrane as a foil to Murphy and added the backstory of Vietnam and their rivalry.

The flight stick for the Fs is from a Grumman OV-1 aircraft. Director Cameo John Badham : Uncredited, as a television director situated in the video room. In the relevant shot, Badham is the furthest of the three cast members from the audience's point of view. Getting Started Contributor Zone ». Edit page. Top Gap. See more gaps ». Blue Thunder Did You Know? Create a list ». Peliculas por ver.

See all related lists ». Murphy uncovers a conspiracy involving the chopper that leads him into the aforementioned aerial dogfight over the streets of LA. Airwolf , by contrast, was a totally different thing. It also involved an experimental military chopper flown by a sullen ex-Army pilot with the shockingly preposterous name "Stringfellow Hawke" played by Jan-Michael Vincent.

Like Murphy, Hawke has also stolen his chopper—but he is allowed to keep it as long as he runs missions for a CIA-inspired agency called The Firm sometimes styled "The F. While Blue Thunder ends with Murphy destroying his chopper after deciding that it might too easily be abused by Big Brother, Airwolf is a force for good. Hawke is given license to machine gun nefarious Commies, Libyans, Mexicans, rednecks, and other sundry ne'er-do-wells week after week, kind of like a flying Knight Rider.

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