Talk:Blue Thunder (helicopter)

Link

Found this page Blue Thunder series on retrojunk.com. Don't think we can use it cause of the video clip with no copyright info. -Fnlayson 05:01, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Trivia list

This is the trivia entries from this sandbox article. There were originally from Blue Thunder in the June 2008.

• The LAPD Bell 206B JetRangers were painted to the same style of the LAPD JetRangers for that era. Two JetRangers were used for the film and both were owned by Cinema Air.
• The helicopter and Los Angeles television station use a 3/4" Sony U-Matic VCR.
• This was one of Warren Oates' last films before his death. He died of a heart attack after making this film. This film is dedicated to him. He made one movie and one TV episode that were released after Blue Thunder.
• The two F-16 Fighting Falcons were actually scale models.
• The F-16 pilots are supposedly operational air defense alert pilots from March Air Force Base, in Riverside, California. However, they are wearing Air Force Systems Command patches on their chests, and shoulder patches from the 445th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base, which was a flight test unit, manned solely by test pilots. The 445th did not participate in combat operations.
• A caption at the beginning of the Blue Thunder movie states that all the high-tech-equipment features of the helicopter are real and were actually used by the military at the time. The exception was "Whisper Mode" which does not exist on any flying helicopter.
• The helmet-controlled gun turret and Target Acquisition and Designation System (TADS) was inspired by the AH-64 Apache, which uses an "Integrated Helmet And Display Sight System" (IHADSS), wherein the nose-mounted sensors and the 30 mm chain gun are linked to the gunner's helmet.
• The bolt-on cockpit of the original helicopter used to be visible on the backlot tour of MGM Studios in Florida. It has not been present in the 'bone yard' since at least 2005. Previous images can be found here.
• The first draft of the screenplay for Blue Thunder featured Frank Murphy as more of a crazy main character with deeper psychological issues, who went on a rampage and destroyed a lot more of the city.
• The 1983 film had originally been up for sequalization by Columbia Pictures. When Columbia opted to do the television series, Roy Scheider had been approached to star in it. He refused the offer.
• A total of four types of helicopters appear in the film.
  • Bell 206B JetRanger (Los Angeles Police Helicopters)
  • SA-341G Gazelle (Blue Thunder)
  • AS-350D AStar (Seen at the news helicopter covering the unfolding events between Blue Thunder and the LAPD)
  • Hughes 500D (Piloted by F.E. Cochran against Blue Thunder)

• The Blue Thunder mockup was also used in the movie Firefox (1982) for interior cockpit shots of the Mil Mi-24 helicopters in the movie.
• The Blue Thunder helicopter was used in the premiere episode of MacGyver (1985).
• Blue Thunder, a game for the Action Max, using footage from the movie.
• In a television commercial for Wang Laboratories, a modified Blue Thunder with wing mounted missiles was featured, sneaking up and hovering outside of a skyscraper's windows, to intimidate a competitor.
• The ABC TV miniseries Amerika from the late '80s, about the invasion of the U.S. by the USSR, featured two Blue Thunder helicopters, painted black and wearing Red Star insignias, posing as Russian helicopters on patrol.
• A French reprint of a Tom Clancy's Op-Center novel entitled Chaostage features a photo of Blue Thunder on the cover.
• In the 2005 Doctor Who episode "Dalek", Blue Thunder appears in stock footage as "Bad Wolf 1", the villain's helicopter.

References

I am removing the uncited and non-aircraft related entries from article. -Fnlayson (talk) 22:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Screenshot

A screenshot would be good, since the actual helicopter was significantly modified from the Gazelle, and the mock-up is incomplete. As the subject of this article is the helicopter itself, it should clearly be usable under fair-use. 65.95.15.60 (talk) 07:49, 6 June 2011 (UTC)