User:Trekphiler/SM Thunder Air


 * This is a sandbox for the proposed new Blue Thunder (helicopter) article or a section for Blue Thunder article.

Blue Thunder is the title aircraft from a 1980s American film and television series. The aircraft itself was a converted Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter.

The Aérospatiale Gazelle
The actual Blue Thunder helicopter was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle, modified with bolt-on parts and a canopy patterned on the AH-64 Apache. Two helicopters were used in the filming of the movie, one for the actual stunts (a "stunt mule"), one as a backup in case the other was grounded for maintenance. Stunts were flown by Jim Gavin. The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, California, where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver at the end of the film was carried out by a 1/6-scale radio controlled model. (This aircraft was built and flown by modeller and RC helicopter manufacturer John Simone Jr.)

The two SA-341Gs were serial numbers 1066 and 1075, both produced in 1973. After the film was made, both helicopters were sold to Michael E. Grube, an aviation salvage collector in Clovis, New Mexico. Grube then leased s/n 1066 to a film company that was shooting Amerika, an ABC television mini-series about Soviet occupation of the USA; the helicopters were painted black, and the surveillance microphones were removed. After Groovy got it back, it was dismantled and sold for parts.

The second, s/n 1075, was scrapped during 1988.

There was a third static display model built for close-up shots with the actors.



The Blue Thunder helicopter
Described as having 1 in "no-lock metal armor", "Blue Thunder" Blue Thunder had a chin turret with "electric" 20 mm six-barrel Gatling gun able to deliver 4,000 rounds per minute. Surveillance used twin cheek-mounted Nitesun spotlights, infrared thermograph, and airborne TV camera with 100:1 zoom and night-vision capability. The cameras fed 3/4 in videotape, with a locker in the belly of the aircraft. External audio pickups were capable of hearing "a mouse fart at two thousand feet". A "whisper mode" granted her the ability to operate in silence. (They resembled sound absorbers used on Jolly Greens in Vietnam.)

Blue Thunder's cannon was controlled by a Harrison helmet.

The project cost was described as US$5 million.

Armament
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Trivia

 * In reality, the Gazelle helicopter used in Blue Thunder was more maneuverable and faster, with a 3-bladed main rotor and fenestron tail rotor, plus a top speed of 310 km/h (193 mph), while the Bell 222 helicopter (Airwolf) had a 2-bladed main and 2-bladed tail rotor.  However, the actual Gazelle with the Blue Thunder modifications was only capable of about 90 mph because of the weight of the add-ons.

Other stuff

 * The LAPD Bell 206B JetRangers in the film, both owned by Cinema Air, were painted in the correct LAPD air unit livery of the era.
 * 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.
 * 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 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 did not exist on any flying helicopter, and still does not.
 * 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 30mm 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 having deeper psychological issues, who went on a rampage and destroyed a lot more of the city.
 * A sequel to the film had originally been planned. When Columbia opted for the television series, instead, Roy Scheider had been approached to reprise his starring role. He refused.


 * 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 1982 movie Firefox 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.