I couldn't believe your statement about the mere 31-year gap, so I looked it up. Sure enough, A6M's first flight 1st April '39 (not a very auspicious date, I guess), Tomcat's first flight 21st December 1970. Astounding progress in such a short period. Then again, we're talking about two very different countries with two very different peoples.
Agreed 477000$ is the advertised cost of 1 Phoenix Missile. (google). No wonder why commanding officers freak out when pilots use Hellfires on camels and jeeps!!
Daniel Cannata the US navy pilots were enjoying feeling great ,toying with ancient combat plane. Really fun. But it will be a nightmare if they meet same class opponent
the one scene where the F-14 drops very close to the water and you can hear the engines screaming....that was not intended, the aircraft actually stalled in real life from the low speed maneuvers and the pilot had to rapidly go to max power and pull out, which in early F-14A's was very dangerous because of an engine design problem that often led to a flame out of one or both engines when rapidly transitioning from low power to max power.
The change of tone in this scene is actually scary. At first, F-14s are toying around, playing, in an almost lighthearted way. As soon as they are given to take down the Zeros, playtime is over. At that very moment, both Zeros are already done for. Suddenly, the F-14s turn into relentless monsters…
Bambi's mom was shot when he was a fawn. But Bambi grew up to be a proud buck. The Great Prince of the Forest raises him. I do not know if I should feel sorry for myself for knowing this or not. I am 45 years old and have no children so I can not use the, "I have kids," defense.
Can you imagine being a pilot in the 1940's flying what was for the time a modern single prop plane, and seeing planes with NO props zoom by you at twice your maximum speed, and perform maneuvers you couldn't even dream of doing?
@@TheDolphinator8 And they still would have shred it. Zero's were brought down by .50 cal solid slugs. The 20mm cannon on an F-14 has a higher rate of fire than all of the .50's on an American WW2 fighter combined. So, even if the rounds didn't explode, it still would have sawed a Zero in half.
+Mitja Vertot Depending on where it hit, yes. The shots would have to go right into the engine only to have a chance of keeping the plane from shredding. At least they correctly modeled what a Sidewinder would do to a Zero (i.e. not much left).
That was not scripted, the pilot really did stall out trying to fly slow enough to stay behind the zero replica flying full speed. This was at low altitude, and was almost a crash.
+pontiacGXPfan Its kind of hard to get an aircraft that can get up to 1544 mph flying in the same scene as an aircraft that goes 330 mph max. No CGI back then, so the F-14's had to fly at stall speed.
+porpus99 Fun fact about the sound effects is that they added the scream of the pilot's wife from when she was shown that scene in a pre-screening session.
You're flying the fastest, extant, model fighter in existence and suddenly these two things blow past you like you're standing still, gotta feel for the Zero Pilots
They couldn't let those Zekes get anywhere near the carrier, lest they open fire on a bunch of aircraft just sitting there on the flight deck (with no time to get them down below); the collective value of those planes were worth far more than just one sidewinder missile!
+Lucian Ene Mid-generation Sidewinders like the ones used here could lock onto a truck engine. Late-model Sidewinders like the ones used today can lock onto the friction an aircraft's winds create against the air.
also there is the possibility to slave the aim9x to the plane's IR sensors so it can track a low thermal signature as long as the plane keeps it targeted
Agreed. However, having known a couple of USN pilots from the Pacific theater when growing up, just a couple of hits from the 20mm Vulcan would have ripped the motor off the Zeke, if it didn't shred the whole aircraft. We had a P-38 pilot a few doors down from us who said just two good hits with the P-38's 20mm cannon would "dismount the motor" on the Zero but it took five or six hits to blow one off a Betty Bomber.
According to one of the F-14 pilots ('Shoes' Mullin), the Zeros were going absolutely as fast as they could at only 120 - 130 knots (top speed was 150 knots, but the canopy open reduced the speed due to drag) while the F-14 Tomcats were close to their stall speed of 100 knots. In reality, the F-14s would have lit the burners and gone vertical and then came down hard from the top on them in order maintain the high energy state while keeping up with the extremely slow Zeroes.
Yep; I'd have thought that kind of battle wouldn't necessarily have been as simple as it's supposed to look. The F-14s weren't really designed to fight aircraft flying so slow without using missiles at much longer ranges. Getting in that close was potentially slightly risky when instead they could've fired Sparrows from over 25 miles away.
+AllThingsFlightSim They are indeed, thanks. They had fairly extensive vismods done to them beyond just the paint job though. More info here: www.warbirddepot.com/aircraft_fighters_zero-jackson.asp
The easiest way to spot if a T-6 has been modified to look like something else is to look at the wing leading edges. The T-6 has its main wheels tucked into two bulges that protrude slightly from the wing leading edges, close to the fuselage, below the cockpit.
actually, it was 39 years for that ship (1980 going back to 1941). And it's been another 39 years since that movie came out. It seems like outside of computers, we haven't advanced all that much in the last 39 years, not like they advanced in the previous 39 years.
F-14 Tomcat defeats A6M5 ZERO because all World War 2 aircraft including A6M5 ZERO do not carry Air-to-Air Missiles. F-14 is a Cold War-era Aircraft while A6M5 ZERO is World War 2-era Aircraft.
Fun fact, in the story, this aircraft carrier was sent back 39 years into the past (1980-1941), and it's been 39 years since this movie was made, so right now in 2019 we are just as far in the future compared to the ship and crew in the movie as the Pearl Harbor attack was in the past to them.
@@andreww.8262 lmao maybe some look but they’re a lot faster, agile, and need a lot less speed to take off, a lot of modern crafts can hover. Whether we see them or not is up to the government
The MR.2 Nimrod was a sub hunter aircraft built in the late 60's off the DeHaviland Comet airframe and flown by the RAF. The RAF retired them from service in 2011.
Daniel Haire The words translated as "mighty hunter" can also be translated as "tyrant." Nimrod was a despot, the first king, and the first to combine religion and the state together. Watch the Fuel Project's videos about him and his dysfunctional family. It's pretty interesting.
This was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I use to hum this theme song when I was in the carrier pattern in my F18 :) There is just something so poetic about seeing these tech marvels of different ages flying around with each other.
First, to maneuver with a A6M, the F-14s would be just above stall speed. Second, does the exhaust from the Zero engine have enough of a heat signature for an AIM-9?
We have a Yes and a No.When the early Sidewinder was developed, the seeker could track a cigarette, but I have no idea how far cigarette was from the seeker.
The original IR sensor did. However, this would not be the original 1953 variant but the AIM-9L all-aspect developed in 1977. It still had the sensitivity but didn't get easily get spoofed by other IR/heat sources. Also, as they never encountered the Sidewinder, the Zero pilots would never have known about the sun trick.
"Splash the Zeros, i say again splash the Zeros". I love that line. What a beautiful and powerfull plane, the F14. Hornets and F35 are cool and all that... but a real man flies an F14.
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams
A similar battle between modern jet fighters and WW2-era fighter planes also happened in a Japanese light novel and its web novel version. In Nihonkoku Shoukan (Summoning Japan), 12 F-15J Kais and 15 Mitsubishi F-2s of the JASDF destroyed 85 Antares fighter planes (isekai Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero) of the Gra Valkas Empire. EDIT: The battle between the Antares fighters and the Japanese Eagles is not included in Vol. 5 of Nihonkoku Shoukan (but included in Vol. 6 which will be out in Nov. or Dec. 2019) but it is already in the web novel version.
@@Dogflight1477 because of it's maneuvering capabilities. It more than holds it's own vs most airframes at 4.3BR much less 3.3/4.0. True,it catches fire if You look at it too long in anything w/a .50c or better,but it's a hard plane to hit when flown by a capable pilot.
My squadron used to provide some pretty darn expensive target drones for training fighter crews as well as ground and air radar tracking personnel in the 1970's. What a show. I loved watching the fighters go threw their drills and real time simulations.
Michael Tan It's actually nonsense, the F-14 could have just wide-circled the area from 6-7000 feet without any chance for the Zeros to even see them let alone get close to them...and then they would just have to fire to AIM-9 missiles to knock them down. Operative dogfight area of a WW2 Zero is ridiculous compared to today's 30-35 mile diameter...would be like 2 flys moving around a tiny area while being circled by big eagles from far away able to strike them easily in any moment.
Actually since the F14 is retired I can comment on it as a retired F18 pilot. The interesting thing about this fantasy scenario is that a zero could win a guns dogfight with an F14 if and only if the zero pilot was smart enough to stay slow and above the F14 at all times. Even with it's huge wingspan the F14 was not a good dogfighter up close and slow (too heavy, it was designed as an interceptor after all, i.e. missles). It simply would never have a turn rate to match a much lighter craft like a zero. Now of course the tomcat could just light the burners and zoom on out and up but that's the point he couldn't win in a guns fight unless he zoomed in at a higher alt. But as you saw from that clip the tomcat did take a dive when he tried to follow the zero down, again too heavy to maintain alt and match the speed of the zero. No comment on the F18 :)
You know, I say this every time I find a copy of this scene, but kudos to the Zero pilots. They obviously knew what they were doing and had no interest in trying to run. The fact that they were hilariously outmatched tech wise doesn't negate the fact that they were quite clearly very good pilots. Which is obvious, since the attack on Pearl Harbor wouldn't have been the greenest noobs the IJN had available
The only special effects were the open cockpit close-ups of the Japanese pilots and RC models for the shoot down scenes. Everything else was 100% real aerial photography.
A small point to what you commented. . . the last "Zero" destroyed (sidewinder missile) was a model. A number of year ago at the Nation Air and Space Museum they had a lecture on the FC movie and this scene was the highlight of the event. Think about it the premier Naval Fighter of their era DOGFIGHTING, so very cool!
According to a "Making of The Final Countdown", There were serious questions asked by brass about "how close was that" (to hitting the water), referring to the F-14 pull out at about 2:50 of this video. Also that Katharine Ross (Girl in the water) was a anti military bitch who refused to meet the actual Navy pilots doing the flying. So they sent her a nasty note via a sign on the daily's (raw video from the shoot sent for viewing by the studio and actors on a "daily" bases)...
okrajoe yeah but that Vulcan cannon at the F-14 has it with her with a ripped at 0 to shreds in mid-air. There wouldn't have been any Survivor what about her airplane the Glide down to the ocean
One of my favorite parts of any movie is the music change and the fangs come out as the wings go back on the Tomcats! You also have to love the respect the Tomcat guys are NOT showing the Zero's both aircraft at one time or another turn off and show their bellies to the Zero's. I would also think a nice mach 1.2 pass past the Zero's would have damn near blown them apart without even firing a shot.
In reality, U.S. Navy aviators felt the same way about Japanese Zeros prior to it's entry into WWII. This was to prove unfortunate until a brilliant aviator, John S. Tach who actually read and believed the reports of the Zero's superior manueverability, developed the "Thach weave" which when employed by two fighters, would help to defeat the Zero. Then shortly afterward, the U.S. captured a fully intact Zero and learned its full capabilities, which led to the development of the F6F Hellcat and the rest is as they say, "history".
@@baconatoromg6062 you’re joking right? Man do you have any idea how fast the tomcat is? Before the zero even finishes its turn, the tomcat would be 2-3 kilometers away from it. Also, take note of the fact, that even tho AIM-9’s are IR, or to put it simply a heat seeker, the tomcat carried radar guided missiles, which doesn’t need a heat source, only a radar lock, and the tomcat’s radar will lock onto that zero and guide the SARH/ARH homing missiles to that zero and destroy it. gg tomcat vs zero is fair and balanced i see nothing wrong
@Eric Actually they do have them, though that might be due to recent advances in encryption that means you couldn't brute-force decode them before the heat death of the universe. Still, it's not true that the aircraft almost hit the water, the zoom-in is used to make it look a lot closer to the water than it actually is. Pilot was in complete control the whole time.
@Eric Absolutely not, if the Tomcat had suffered a compressor stall with the engines they had back then it would have been irrecoverable and he'd have been dead. That rumour originated in an ancient and long-gone blog post, and has no merit to it.
That was a great movie for its time. My dad was in HAWAII during WW2. HE was on the opposite side on the big island., manning a FLACK GUN.HEreally ENJOYED this movie.
Here, here, great film! This is still one of my favorite scenes in movies period. It makes you ponder what if? And watching this terribly lopsided dog fight is fun!
David Aiken It's a shame they didnt actually intervene in the war, it would have been way more awesome to see a nimitz leading a U.S. fleet against Japan, but oh well.
"Hey Fox, that woke 'em up..."......god I loved this scene when I saw this in the theater as a kid......the good old days when they could paint up the fighters, not like today with everything subdued.....those Jolly Rogers tails are awesome
When the Tomcat pulled up in front of the Zero like that, the jetwash ripped off the Zero pilot's radio in his helmet. They could not communicate with the pilot
c431inf 11b have you seen any films recently? 'Unbreakable', where the hero is a USAAF bomber crewman. 'Saving Private Ryan', where every main character is a US Army Soldier. The 'Transformers' series, where the military kills a bunch of evil robots. 'American Sniper', which is about a US Navy SEAL in the Iraq War. 'Flags of our Fathers' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima', which both show American Marines exhibiting great bravery. 'Fortress' and 'Red Tails', which are both about the USAAF in WWII. 'Fury', which is about a US Army tank crew in WWII. And 'U-517', which actually gives America credit for what Britons and Australians did!
The Zero had 20mm cannon located in its wing roots, not machine guns. The 20 mm had a slower rate of fire and a different firing sound than depicted in the film. When straffing the survivors, the pilot would have undoubtedly used his twin 7.7 machine guns firing through the propellor.
The production manager in charge of arial photography commented that the scene was indeed a near crash. The Tomcat stalled after completing a rolling dive and the pilot managed the recovery only 100' above the waves. There was a rumor that the Navy confiscated all the footage from the cameras mounted on Navy aircraft but the studio leased B25 camera plane and Bell 206 Jet Ranger were able to keep the footage that ended up in the movie.
Rumour would be incorrect since the shot of the Vulcan firing is clearly from a camera mounted on the plane, and the pilot said he was in complete control the whole time.
Actually it was a near crash, buddy of mine flew for this movie and the pilot of the f14 was in big trouble since they weren’t supposed to risk the aircraft.
No it wasn't. That's a rumour that started long after production, if an F-14A were to stall out at that low an altitude the pilot would be dead because one or both engines would have suffered compressor stalls and flamed out. It's just that the zoom-in makes the plane look closer to the water than it actually was, simple camera tricks.
I saw this film in the movies when it was released in 1980. Yes, the pilot nearly hitting the water was talked about, but in the actual commentary (many years later) the actual pilot said that was not the case and said he was never in any danger of hitting the water.
So just a question could an AIM-9 actually get a lock on a Mitsubishi A6M zero? The thing was designed for attacking jets I mean could there be enough heat to pick up? And the other thing is the M-61 aircraft cannon would have made Swiss cheese out of that Zeke with 20mm explosive tipped rounds and the zeros lack of armour would have turned it into splinters literary
Well, the AIM-9 would have a very small chance of getting a lock on the exhaust of a piston powered aircraft, but the Zeros would have been on patrol for awhile if they were that far away from their carrier fleet, so the engines would have been running the whole time (obviously) so the cowling and the surrounding area might have enough of an IR signature for the missile to be able to lock on. And yes, the M-61 should have ripped the A6M apart, but remember, it IS a movie after all...
Yes an AIM-9 Sidewinder could get a good tone from a Mitsubishi ZERO. But there's another way to shout down a WWII Fighter plane with an AIM-9 and it called..."FIRING LINE OF SIGHT" P-51's were fitted to carry rockets under it wings.
If you like this then look up Les Chevaliers du ciel, it's in french but the flying in fantastic and the photography is astonishing, it's so good you forget that it's in a foreign language.
If you got the DVD of this movie, they have a one hour interview with the Jolly Rogers who did the flying. That was one of the last things in the interview brought up, when the moment came of the storm re-appearing when Nimitz Strike Force was 4 minutes away from intercept. Brown said they could have gone in with 2 Tomcats and wipe out the whole fleet.
If you guys want to watch something similar to this, there is a anime called "Zipang" where a Japanese destroyer (current time) goes back in time similar situation to Final Countdown to World War II Pacific and both American and Japanese fleet are after it.
The camera work for the guys sitting in the cockpits of those F-14s was great. A proper amount of unsteadiness and such, making it look like a pilot with a gopro recording the thing. At a much lower quality, of course.
