Helicopters in popular culture

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The Helicopter has unique characteristics which have led to it being featured in films, video games, and other media.

Contents

[edit] Films

The Cobra can be seen in movies like Fire Birds, Iron Eagle, G.I. Jane, Con Air, Heartbreak Ridge, The Rock, Home Fries, Hulk, Courage Under Fire, War of the Worlds (2005), and Mission: Impossible III (2006).
After the US Army sold AH-1 parts in the surplus market, at least one private interest was able to assemble a flyable AH-1F which was then made available for filming. This explains the Cobra's numerous appearances in both television episodes and movies. (The Army later destroyed key surplus parts to prevent unauthorised assembly of an AH-1.)
Fire Birds (or Wings of the Apache) starring Nicholas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sean Young.
Apaches were seen in the climax of the film Toy Soldiers providing fire support for Blackhawks and the counter-terrorist teams aboard them.
Several Apaches appear near the end of the film In the Army Now causing the remaining Libyans to flee, making the main characters think that they had succeeded in scaring them off, and also appear on a poster for the film.
Apaches engage the title character in the 1998 remake of Godzilla, including a chase through downtown New York City.
Bad Boys 2 (MH-68 Stingray)
S.W.A.T.
The JetRanger has been used in cinema productions including James Bond films — notably in the opening sequence of For Your Eyes Only where it flies inside a building, or in The Spy Who Loved me. It has also been seen in the films Deep Impact, The Siege, The Matrix (Bell 212), Lethal Weapon, Die Hard with a Vengeance (Bell 206-L), xXx, U.S. Marshals, True Lies (Bell 206-L), Hollywood Homicide, The Thing, and also made an appearance in the TV series ER when one of the characters had his arm amputated by the tail rotor due to being distracted arguing with another character. A Bell 212 is carrying the protagonist of the film The Sum of All Fears to Baltimore when a nuclear bomb is detonated, causing the chopper to crash. A JetRanger was used in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, when the T-1000 commandeers it and uses it to pursue the protagonists fleeing in a hijacked SWAT van and again in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines when the T-X uses one to follow John Connor and Katherine Brewster to Crystal Peak.
The 1994 movie Guarding Tess featured an S-58DT, tail number N90935. The 1987 film Full Metal Jacket directed by Stanley Kubrick featured the CH-34 although it was actually the Westland Wessex disguised as the CH-34 due to the Gas-turbines.
The OH-58D is prominently featured in the movie Fire Birds as the sidekick to the movie's star, the AH-64A. Flown by Sean Young's character, CWO Guthrie, this example of the early, unarmed OH-58D accomplishes its mission of finding the enemy for the Apache as the movie approaches its climax.
OH-6s were used in the movie Capricorn One. Other movies that feature one of the MD500 variants include Diamonds Are Forever, Blue Thunder, Outbreak, Fire Birds, Last Action Hero, Black Hawk Down, The Italian Job, Apocalypse Now, and Three Kings. The Hughes 500 is featured most extensively in the television movies Deadly Encounter, starring Larry Hagman as a veteran helicopter pilot, and Birds of Prey starring David Janssen as an ex-Flying Tiger, now traffic helicopter pilot.
The MD 520N is featured in the freeway chase scenes in Speed and in the first Mission: Impossible movie.
The MD 600 can be seen in the James Bond films Die Another Day and Casino Royale
The Explorer can be seen in the James Bond film Die Another Day.
A modified Gazelle starred as a high-tech attack helicopter in the 1983 action-thriller film Blue Thunder and its subsequent spin-off television series.
A similar modified Gazelle (or the same as Blue Thunder) was used in Rambo 3 as a smaller gunship.
Also was seen in The Gauntlet and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Sniper 2
Behind Enemy Lines
In Rambo III (1988) & Red Dawn (1984) a SA-330 Puma was equipped with stub wings and a gun turret to mimic a Soviet Mil Mi-24 Hind
Several Comanches appear in the movie Hulk persuing the title character through a canyon.
Several Sea Kings can be seen in The Final Countdown, performing search and rescue and shuttling persons to and from the USS Nimitz.
A Sea King was used in The Hunt for Red October to transport the main protagonist to the USS Dallas.
At least one Sea King can be seen among numerous helicopters ferrying evacuees from Washington, D.C. in Deep Impact.
A Sea King is used by the Terminator to reach Crystal Peak in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
A trio of RAF Westland Sea Kings were lost in an ill-fated attempt to rescue the British Royal Family in The Day After Tomorrow.
The helicopter's first major public appearance was in the James Bond film GoldenEye, where the theft of a prototype was a major plot element.
We Were Soldiers
Rules of Engagement (Switches from UH-1H to UH-1N between shots)
Behind Enemy Lines (Switches from UH-1H to UH-1N between shots)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Dante's Peak
Jarhead (UH-1N)
Courage Under Fire
Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement
We Were Soldiers
In the films The Killing Fields, The Jackal, & The Sum of All Fears
Jarhead (UH-60s are seen grounded at base when they arrive in Iraq.)
Tank
Godzilla (SH-60J)
The Karate Kid, Part II
Fire Birds
Contact
Toy Soldiers
The Day After Tomorrow
Black Hawk Down (MH-60L)
Tears of the Sun (SH-60F, SH-60B)
Jurassic Park III (two SH-60Bs from Navy Squadron HSL-37)
Armageddon (HH-60G)
The Perfect Storm (HH-60G)
Deep Impact
In the Army Now
The Medallion (S-70C)
The Core (UH-60 & SH-60B)
The Guardian (HH-60J)
Ghost Rider
Transformers(cartoon) as the Combaticon Vortex
The Hunt for Red October (SH-60)
Bad Boys 2 (HH-60J)
Bad Boys 2

[edit] TV series

  • AH-1 Cobra
The Cobra can be seen in the 1980s hit cartoon G.I. Joe (in which it is designated 'The Dragonfly') as well as many other television appearances, such as in Magnum P.I., JAG, NCIS, Walker, Texas Ranger, and 24.
  • AH-64 Apache
A British Army Apache WAH-64 was used in an episode of the BBC car program Top Gear, where presenter Jeremy Clarkson attempted to evade the helicopter's missile lock in a Lotus Exige. Clarkson was successful, so long as the Apache was restricted to the area above the racetrack; the Apache achieved lock within seconds once it was allowed to go further away.
The Bell 47G was used in the 1957–1959 television series Whirlybirds, and later the movie and television series M*A*S*H. It also appeared in the Canadian TV show The Forest Rangers and the Australian TV Show Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
  • Bell 206
The JetRanger was featured in the TV series Airwolf. It was the primary helicopter of Santini Air. The paint scheme was very distinctive, painted in the manner of an American Flag. For years after the series ended, the aircraft's owners, Helinet of Van Nuys Airport retained the destinctive paint and name. Other television series have used it, especially law enforcement dramas such as 24, but also memorably in the Treasure Hunt game show.
A modified Bell 222 was the basis for the title aircraft in Airwolf.
  • CH-34 Choctaw
The TV series Riptide (TV series) starring Joe Penny, Perry King and Thom Bray featured a CH-34.
  • Hughes 500
A cartoon show Skyhawks featured a Hughes 500. Perhaps its most famous role was in the television show Magnum P.I., as a Hughes 500D, with the later T-tail design and five-bladed main rotor.
The character Nick Ryder in the TV series Riptide owned and flew a Sikorsky H-34T.
Harold the Helicopter is based in the Sikorsky S-55 or its Westland counterpart.
  • Aérospatiale Gazelle
A Gazelle was used for the helicopter hidden within The Highwayman’s futuristic 18-wheeler. Also in the Mini-series Amerika (1987) a pair used Blue Thunder birds painted in black with Russian insignias, to simulate Soviet gun ships
  • UH-60 Black Hawk
24 {SH-60 doubling as Marine One in season 5}
Deadliest Catch {HH-60J}
SOS: Coast Guard Rescue {HH-60J}

[edit] Video games and flight simulators

  • AH-64 Apache
The AH-64D Longbow is the featured attack helicopter in the Janes Longbow Series of aircraft simulations, Jane's AH-64D Longbow and Jane's AH-64D Longbow 2.
The Apache was a featured helicopter in the flight sim Gunship. The sequel, Gunship 2000 introduced the Longbow as well.
In the computer game Enemy Engaged: Apache/Havoc, players can choose to command either an AH-64D Longbow or a Russian-made Mi-28 Havoc-B .
The AH-64a is simulated in the game Team Apache where the pilot takes on command of an attack squadron of Apaches.
  • Bell 206
The JetRanger is the inspiration behind the design of helicopters in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
  • OH-58 Kiowa
The armed OH-58D is one of the three flyable aircraft cockpits in the 1997 PC computer game, Longbow II. The game gives the possibility of flying in the pilot's right seat or flying in the co-pilot/gunner's (CPG) left seat.
  • UH-60 Black Hawk
A gunship and a transport variant are both flyable in Operation Flashpoint.
Featured in Airforce Delta.
The UH-60 is the primary Allied Nations helicopter in the game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.
It is used as an infantry support unit in Act of War: Direct Action.
A gunship variant is available in Battlefield 2.
The Delta Force spin-off Delta Force: Black Hawk Down and its expansion Delta Force: Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre

[edit] Books

Author Robert Mason recounts his career as a UH-1 "Slick" pilot in his memoir, Chickenhawk.

[edit] External links

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