I was in the Marine corps when this movie was filmed, station on Nimitz, Marine detachment. It was filmed in 78 and the movie was released in 80. All the Marines but one in this movie were real Marines (my buddies). There were only 80 Marines on the ship, we ran the brig and nuclear weapons security. Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen were lost on the ship one day as I was doing my rounds, Kirk hollard at me "Marine! How the hell do you get off this thing?" I showed him the way off and got his autograph. Made friends with the special effects crew, partied with them every night when we were in port. Really cool time in my life.
My dad took me to see this film , I loved it and so wanted to see nimitz's for my self , I'm very envious on your luck being on board while they were filming .
The Zeros in the movie were owned by the CAF. One of the Zero pilots was Archie Donahue who was a Marine F4U pilot at Okinawa after it was taken by US forces in 1945. He actually had shot down real Zeros and received the Navy Cross for his actions. He said the scene where the F-14s flew by and the Zeros were rocked by the wake of the F-14s was very real. He said it was the only time he gave full aileron and kept rolling the opposite direction!
@@CakePrincessCelestia ; I concur, every anime and CGI movie gets the maneuvers wrong and they end up looking like RC planes, biplanes or just on a string doing bullshit.
As a 14 year old, Dad took me to the Cleveland Air Show to meet the pilots involved in the Gulf of Sidra incident. There were tomcats everywhere in that show. I was in heaven!
With Moover's video delay, I was double taking between him and what we saw and heard, and I was "WTF?" on that scene, and then Mover is like "WTF! =)" and I was like....Tomcats =) IYAOYAS! 20 year US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman here.
Would of been very costly and time consuming without CGI. Some one made a strike fighters 2 mission tho..... Funniest shit just watching the A-6's and A-7s go ham on a WW2 fleet.
@@Armadauzbekistan If they carried some of the (then) brand new Harpoon ASM, the Japanese would not have seen it coming. Launched from over the horizon they would have taken out all the carriers and the cruisers. Laser guided bombs will take out the Battleships from above the AA ceiling, rocket pods vs the destroyers.
Charles Durning, who plays the Senator aboard the yacht, was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division on June 6, 1944 and in the first wave of American troops that landed on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy. He would be the only survivor of his unit that arrived in France on D-Day. After being wounded by a German anti-personnel mine in the Bocage, he spent six months recovering. Durning was reassigned to the 398th Infantry Regiment with the 100th Infantry Division, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946. Among the medals he earned for his service was the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart with 2 Oak leaf clusters. He died December 24, 2012 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
The pilots said that their Tomcats were brand new when they filmed these scenes, and that they were practically peeling the labels off them. Also, during the scenes the Zeros were flying at full speed whilst the Tomcats were almost at stalling speed. Ironically, we see A-7 Corsair II light attack aircraft being flown here by totally different squadrons, but the Jolly Rogers started flying with the original F4U Corsair fighter-bomber. The "V" markings on their planes and helmets are from when they were called The Vagabonds. I believe the real skull and crossbones that they keep in a cabinet are the remains of one of their first commanders who was killed in action during WWII, and ever since they've used that as their squadron logo and mascot.
You are a correct and a " bones" officer is assign to guard the bones. Not sure if that tradition is still ongoing but it was when I was a "pirate" back in the late 90s
@@FS2K4Pilot Yeah. I forgot he was just an ensign though. I thought he was a commanding officer. Weren't the squadron given an official presentation of the bones at one point by one of Ernie's relatives?
White-Dragon Indeed so. He’s also still carried on the squadron roster. The reason why there’s a Bones Guard in that squadron id because Ensign Ernie occasionally has, or at least had, unsanctioned adventures with members of other squadrons. It was one of those Naval Aviator esprit-de-corps deals.
The a-7 squadrons were va-82 and VA -86 in 1987 they both switched to the fa-18c's , I was a jet engine mechanic in vfa 82 formally va-82 when I was in the navy from 1987 to 1992
There was even a Vigilante in the opening sequence, IIRC. Also, Phantoms in that era, right after Vietnam, looked cool with the DECM stuff, felt like an underdog next to the Tomcat, but still Phucking Phantoms.
It’s incredible....that’s why I love movies like Final Countdown because they show so much variety in the aircraft, and back then, that’s how aircraft were. Now it’s just whatever meets the minimum requirements and is cheap. I mean look at the ATF. The YF23 was better, but YF22 was cheaper and the public liked it and it was chosen
You should watch behind the scenes with the pilot. The inverted dive into the water was a very controlled and planned maneuver. They did it on purpose to make it exciting and shocking since it was a summer blockbuster. The pilot said he knew exactly when to pull up and was at least a safe 100 feet over the waters when got the nose up. They overdubbed the noise of an engine spooling up with the wife of the pilot's scream when she first saw it. It is all in the behind the scenes.
Gonky: "TOMCATS!" Mover: "TOMCATS!" My dogs immediately look at me like "you better say it Mark otherwise we eatin everything you own" Me: "TOMCATS!" Honestly I know I've said this before but it is funny as hell, when I'm watching the videos the dogs sit on the sofa next to me watching the TV and when Mover says "TOMCATS!" I always say "TOMCATS!" afterwards so now when he says it they look at me waiting for me to say it. 😂😂😂
Those Tomcats are gorgeous with the Jolly Roger paint scheme... and yeah, they'd have performed the old surprise anal probe on the Japanese... as long as the munitions hold out.
Fun fact, my uncle was in VA-86 (A-7Es, he was an AD) on the Nimitz when Final Countdown was filmed. He has snuck some pictures of the film crew. Pretty cool
For real, the Navy and Marines always get the sweet hollywood movie deals with the Army once in a blue moon but I honestly can't think of a really great AF movie, who ever is the head PAO needs to grow a pair and get in on it.
*My father was on the Kitty Hawk (CV-63) during filming of this. And they asked to film some scenes on the Hawk(for convenience, I think.). But they wouldn't allow their 63's to be painted into 68's for the Nimitz. HOWEVER, they WOULD allow the studio to add lights to the Hawk's island, to make the 63 into a 68. So the studio settled for night shots with the Hawk.*
Finally The Final Countdown! Also....BRRRRT. But something you guys forgot, and I would've loved to hear Gonky's take on it, is the A-7's barricade landing early in the film. The A-7 couldn't get its hook down. That wasn't in the script and the film crew quickly set up to film it. Did that ever happen on one of Gonky's deployments? What did he think of the scene? Scene here: ua-cam.com/video/UQ9Q3K8jp-o/v-deo.html
There’s a great scene of a plane without a tail hook coming in for a successful barrier landing. That was a real emergency that happened on ship while they were filming. It turned out that the crew performed so perfectly, and the plane in distress made a safe recovery, that the director asked to leave it in the movie. Sis keel and Egbert ragged on it for being fake and overly and unnecessarily dramatic. Ah they days before Twitter. They also almost crashed one of the Zero’s during the dogfight scene, when it got picked up and spun by the Tomcats wake.
@@av8bvma513 Yeah, that rather low near wavetop recovery that you see the F-14 do on film? That was an oops. Legend is that the Pilots wives screamed when they saw the film before it was released. The "Zero" pilt got tossed around and spun so badly that his helmet and goggles got ripped off his head and sucked out of the plane.
I was a young SRA on a remote assignment at King Salmon Alaska when this movie came out. Our F4's launched to intercept the Russians from time to time. There were only 350 of us at the sight and we LOVED this cheesy movie. The camera operator would stop and rewind the film at all the cool spots, missile launch, impact, etc. Cheesy as it is it will always bring back memories of my youth.
As a 9 year old boy this movie gave me the greatest case of battle blue balls I've had before or since. I swear when the tomcats were recalled I nearly cried.
I saw this in the theater when it came out. This movie was someone's fever dream, and that's why it was so good. "What if you took a nuclear powered aircraft carrier back to 1941, what would happen?"........let's make a movie
@@killian9314 oh look! someone else know about it! but instead of a carrier, it's an advanced JSDF Aegis cruiser similar to the Arleigh-Burke class transported back to 1942 before the battle of midway
@@Dragonman1OOO close but it's actually a day before the Battle of Midway look it up: From Wikipedia: "After examining the situation, the crew realises that the ships they passed are part of the Imperial Japanese Navy and that they have somehow been transported back in time more than 60 years to June 4/5, 1942, the first day of the Battle of Midway. "
I like that you've used the US Navy approach to fixing a problem. Instead of improving Gonky's audio you've dropped your own quality so there is no longer a difference. Better to normalise at the bottom than the top!
My CAG on a cruise was one of the pilots who flew some of those hops. This was filmed a few years prior to Nimitz heading to the west coast to re fuel in Bremerton as well. Years later I talked to one of the pilots at Oshkosh (around 1987) who flew for the Texas based Confederate Air Force. He said it was a task running full gas while the Tomcats were about ready to fall out of the sky....which one of them did on more than one occasion. He said that there were a couple "close calls" but only one was caught on film. Another involved a zero who went through some jetwash and almost fully departed at low level.
I bumped into a retired Tomcat pilot and we talked about this. He said heads nearly rolled. Bear in mind that those 'Zeros' were actually T-6 Texans and their max speeds barely exceeded the F-14's STALL speed...this meant that the Tomcats were yanking and banking right at the bleeding edge of a stall the whole time...
Whats the stall speed of the F-14? These guys had to be around the that speed the whole time. My grandfather was the top turret gunner in a B-25 in the pacific in WW2 and had a special place in his heart for watching Japanese planes get ripped apart, he always loved this movie.
I always had to chuckle a little at seeing Prowlers launched with the main strike package. As if they were going to need ECM from the IJN. Side note: a buddy I worked with was one of the crew extras in this movie. He was one of the helo crew members. Specifically, the helo that brought in the Japanese pilot. My buddy was the crew member that handed the MarDet the personal effects of the pilot.
At 7:18 where the F14 makes that screaming sound, that was added in during post production. The pilot's wife watched the scene, let out a scream because she couldn't believe what she saw, the post production team modulated it and put it in there for the rest of us to enjoy.
LOL, I remember when this was first on TV it was called "Red Flag: The Most Dangerous Game." Supposedly, when the movie aired, some guys at Nellis were answering the phones with "Hello, Red Flag, the most dangerous game." Until they were told to cut it out.
@@gbonkers666 and I keep suggesting it, because it apparently uses real footage, and radio chatter, and doesn't have planes pretending to be other planes (though it has one shot of an f-15 mixed in).
@@Littlewing1977 "Fight..." was a great book and when it was made into a movie. I was like a youngster again at the Saturday afternoon matinee. I didn't care what changes were made, what was left out. it was Flight of the Freaking Intruder on the big screen. Life is so good:)
Saw that movie in the theater with my Dad when I was nine. Fell in love with aviation & am a pilot today because of it. That sequence still gives me goosbumps :)
@@koori3085 the only follow up book I read was The Intruders. Jake essentially does a "punishment tour" after getting in a bar fight, getting Marine aviators up to speed on the A-6. He's still an O-3, maybe O-4...it's been decades since I read it. Definitely isn't a CAG though.
@@EvolvedTactical its actually Coonts' second novel published in '88 called Final Flight. Not only is Coolhand the CAG, but somehow has ended up in a TOMCAT! Had to look it up, it's a great read bud.
The point where he almost hit the water, the sound was actually a mix of the sound from the plane and the scream of the pilot's wife when she watched the scene. The pilot for that scene was Richard "Fox" Farrell of VF 84
I've heard that version of the story plus other versions on other YT videos that say it was something else. One "Making of Final Countdown" video on YT says it was mixed with a stock sound effect of a cat. To me it doesn't sound like either. It sounds more like just a mixed sound effect electronically generated in the post production sound editing process.
The aerial footage in the movie is simply amazing. Although there are things about it that aren't exactly 100% accurate, it's still a phenomenal movie.
Basically the Philadelphia Experiment meets Tora Tora Tora. (Also my favorite movie back when I wanted to be a Tomcat pilot. ... I was 17 y.o. when the Final Countdown was released.) For the record: I did make them tell me "No."
I've always wanted to see a remake of this where they actually do engage the Japanese by destroying the first wave before having to turn back. They could use it as an explanation for why the attack was originally planned to be 3 waves but only 2 happened. Even ignoring the almost certain use of CGI though, they would probably screw it up in a lot of other ways too.
Not only do I like Mover Ruins Movies, but the interaction between you and Gonky is also so much fun to watch. May God bless and protect both of you and fill your lives with joy. You both earned and deserve it!
Sometimes I miss the 80s... It was back when the military was cool and did cool things like... Paint pirate flags on planes, and had recruitment movies like Top Gun and Iron Eagle. Now not so much.
Some traditions remain. For example, the USS Kidd (which is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer) hoists the Jolly Roger flag when it returns to home port after a deployment. In addition, every US Navy ship flies a homeward-bound pennant when returning from overseas tours lasting at least 9 continuous months. The pennant has one star for the first 9 months of overseas duty, and one star for each additional 6 months. The total length of the pennant customarily is 1 foot for each officer and enlisted crew member who served overseas for a period in excess of 9 months, but the pennant cannot be longer the length of the ship.
VFA-103 took the Jolly Rogers name off VFA-84 when that squadron was disbanded, they still have the skull and cross bones painted on the tails of the Squadron's F/A-18E's. Iron Eagle had no help from the USAF at all. The Aircraft in the film were Israeli Air Force F-16's and Kifi's (J-79 powered copies of the Mirage V).
Lol you didn't ruin the movie but you did put a kink in my day when you reminded me it was 40 years old ;) still remember watching it when I was a wee lad and it set the stage for Top Gun
11:10 Can you imagine if they had carried out an attack. They would have certainly utterly destroyed the Japanese fleet, then reported back to Pearl Harbor and Admiral Kimmel. Admiral Kimmel would have said, "Let me get this straight *CAPTAIN:* You launched an unprovoked sneak attack against the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, without authorization. Your aircraft and your ship are impressive, and I actually believe it when you say that you are from the future. And I believe you that the Japanese fleet was on their way to attack this base. But the point is, they had not carried out that attack yet." I imagine that such an attack you have been a political nightmare. Also preventing the attack would cause the support the war to evaporate. On Dec ember 6th support for joining the war was extremely weak. By December 8th everything had changed. How would you generate support for the war without allowing that attack?
Before they introduced the Kamikaze program as an official strategy in the final phase of the war, there were quite a few 'spontaneous Kamikazes' during Japanese air raids. As can be seen in the film "Tora Tora Tora!" the Japanese commander of one flight, rather than try to crash land, targets the biggest hangar he can find and crash dives into it. Before taking off on what would be his final flight during the Battle of Midway, Japanese commander Tomonaga was informed the fuel tanks on his plane were damaged and so he would have only fuel for a one way trip. His pilots all offered to swap planes with him but he would have none of it.
@@AudieHolland There were a few instances of American Pilots doing the same. If they were going down they may as well hit something. The classic example being the A-26 that all most took out Admiral Nagumo early on in the Battle of Midway.
@@AudieHolland Henderson may or may not have been attempting that. he was attampting a level bombing run on the Hiryu with his plane on fire. But yeah he's probably a good example. of "if we're going down on fire, may as well try and hit something"
One of my favorite movies of all time. The movie just rocks with music, has some of the best jet footage in any movie, has good acting, and not a bad story. :)
That CIC looks like it was filmed in both the CIC and CATCC , in a couple of the background shots you can see the ATC repeaters which were only in CATCC, the big stat boards were all over the place in both CIC (CDC) and CATCC, but the big plot tables were usually only found in CIC. I served on the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71 as an OS from '87 to '91 and spent a lot of time in CDC/CIC
I was an RD (pre-OS) late 60's and the commenters were wondering if the CIC scene was accurate. It absolutely is/was a CIC that they filmed in. I was on a cruiser so we didn't have a CATCC but the status boards and visible equipment was spot on.
@@usshornetmuseum3207 The repeaters with the large screens are the ATC repeaters, those screens were about 24" to 30" across. The surface search repeaters had much smaller screens about 12 to 15" across, spent many a watch staring into them....
I read that the Splash sequence was done down off Florida and it took about a week. One of the Zero pilots wrote about it and said it was a pretty miserable time doing it.
@@Scoobydcs while the wingspan is more on the B17 , if you superimpose an F14 over a B17 most of the B17 fuselage is obscured by the F14. The F14 is far bigger than the B25 in length (over 4m longer while less than a 2m shorter than the B17) .
I haven't seen this flick in years, but when I was a kid...this is what made me fall in love with the Tomcat...sorry.....TOMCATS! Thanks for the flashback!
@dougmasters4579 the marines were still flying them in '78 - they retired thiers in the mid 80s when they got the harrier. (They didn't get the A7, which is what replaced the A4 in the Navy) The navy retired their last deployed A4 squadrons in '76
It's actually covered in the Novel that was released at the same time as the film., Why the Nimitz went back in time and why it was pulled back to 1980 when it was. I've not actually read the Novel, but managed to find a cheap copy of it on-line and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. I do recall somebody explaining what happened in the book as being along the lines of due to some form of Natural or Man made Wormhole, the Ship goes back in time. After 24 hours or so, a Man made Wormhole drags it back (plus the deployed air group). The second wormhole is man made as it follows the ship as the Captain tries to outrun and evade it. Who made the time machine? The one guy in 1941 who knowns that time travel is possible and does know what is going to be happening to the world in the next 40 years and get very rich doing so!!! This is of course, Cdr Owens, the CAG, AKA Mr Tideman!!! I'll have to read the book to see, if he sent the ship back in the first place, so he could be dumped there and met his wife.
Haha. One of my fave movies. As cheesy as some of it is, the cinematography was amazing for the era. Great aerial footage! But yeah, attacks in fingertip? How many RAP sorties are required for that? 😂
I was on the Nimitz from 80-84 but they had filmed it before I was stationed there. Whenever we would complete an underway replenishment (unrep), they would do a "break away" and the Nimitz would play the theme music from the movie.
This movie always gives me goose bumps every time I see the tomcats initially introduce themselves to the zeros. I wish they had a chance to fight the Japanese fleet - maybe part 2. Great review guys.
11:00 Funny thing is, with the speed and payload capability of the F-14, you would only need a two-ship flight performing CCRP/CCIP bombing from 10 000 ft with Mk84 general purpose bombs to completely annihilate that task force. You'd launch at most 4 F-14s with bombs, 1 per enemy carrier. The rest would be loaded for air combat, and would escort the strike package. Then those F14s would drop their bombs on target, pushing the release envelope far lower than you could get away with in the modern era, before climbing out and egressing transonic back to the carrier. Thats if they decided to bomb the enemy, rather than just sail the carrier itself toward the enemy and demanding their surrender. Furthermore, he would have nuclear munitions on board which would dwarf the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If I was in command of that carrier, under those circumstances, I'd be sailing my nuclear armed carrier to Japan, contacting the Japanese government to notify them of their imminent surrender, then detonate a nuclear weapon in the mountains. The blast should level enough of the forest to highlight the effectiveness of the weapon without requiring human suffering. I would then sail my carrier towards Europe, and repeat the process with Germany. Finally, I'd sail my carrier home to the States, and bet the US government that if I can sink an entire 1940s carrier task force with a single bomb, they would appoint me senior advisor to the Presidency for the next 60 years. Then, once a 1942 era carrier group is formed, I would request for their safety the ships be evacuated. I would then drop a single nuclear weapon amidst the fleet, sinking every single vessel in that fleet within minutes of the detonation. America, witnessing the destruction, would grant me the position in exchange for the technology. I'd have to revert to astronavigation throughout this whole process, as the military satellite network won't have been launched for another 20 years or more, so there's no GPS. Reverse engineering a single AIM-9B would advance rocket technology to the point the US could begin the Apollo programme within 5 years at most. A single computerised device would allow us to leapfrog devices like the Turing Machine and grant us the integrated curcuit before the end of the 40s. I'm not sure if DARPAnet was a thing yet, so I won't assume that I can give them the Internet. Just about anything I sent would be made of a material that wasnt even invented yet. Advanced radar technology didn't exist. Jet engines didn't exist. Ballistics resistant composites comprising the windows of CIC would advance tank technology, as would the composites of the hull. Basically, we'd be stripping the carrier down to its bolts, with each crewman teaching their own personal team of scientists how the technology they operate works. The US submarine programme would benefit immensely just from the SIGINT department, let alone deconstruction of the ships hull and material analysis. Laser targeting pods would allow LASER/MASER technology to leapfrog forwards. A single 1980s US carrier travelling back in time would radically advance the rate of progress of science. The divergent timeline would feature incalculable numbers of early scientific breakthroughs. I'd guess that the only thing on a 1980s aircraft carrier that already existed in 1941 would be the toilets. The medical equipment on board would radically change the face of the medical field basically overnight. It's not unlikely there will be a medical journal on board containing breakthroughs in medical science. As an example, the easy release mechanism on a socket wrench didn't exist until the 70s. Tupperware didn't exist until 1946. The first defibrillator didn't exist until the following year. Even a can of hairspray in the bunk of a random crewman would be almost a decade before it's time, as would the barcode on that can. The airsickness bag wasn't invented yet either. Neither was the airbag, wetsuit, bread clip, voltmeter, marker pen, WD-40, ziploc bag, ready meal, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, active noise cancellation, synthetic diamonds, the doppler effect (which we use in Fetal Doppler Echocardiograms, not just RADAR), lint rollers, bubble wrap, single serve sugar sachets, zip ties, carbon fibre and spandex. And that's just all the technologies that would be present on a US carrier that was invented BEFORE 1960. Spandex was invented in 1959. There are countless technologies invented between 1960 and 1980 I won't bother to list, so lengthy is that list.
All this Aerial Footage was because of the AIRWOLF Alumni (shot 5 years before that TV show) incl. the legendary J. David Jones (Airwolf's Aerial Co-Ordinator / 2nd Unit Director / chief Helicopter Stunt Pilot during 1st/2nd Seasons); David Butler (Director of Photography on Airwolf's Aerial Unit during 1st/2nd Seasons), and Stan Lazan (Cinematographer on 1st/2nd Seasons). ***THAT's*** why this footage looks so awesome and filmed to jaw-dropping perfection. When you'd these three guys together it created magic, both in 1979, and later 1984-85 on first two years of 'Airwolf' TV series.
At 4:40 on the left plane and again at 5:49, you can see the front glove vanes extended just over the intakes. This was only on early F14 A’s and welded shut on later models.
The anniversary edition of Final Countdown has a interview with the pilots. The story about touching the cameraman’s foot with the refueling probe was awesome.
I saw The Final Count Down in the theater when it came out. I went to the 1100 show and stayed for two additional showings! I couldn't get enough of TOMCATS and CV ops! There was no internet back then and the likely hood of seeing any footage like that was slim. Maybe during a PBS special or a Navy recruiting film was about the closest you would come, once in a blue moon. For a 17 year old aviation/history buff, the movie was great, regardless of the sci fi plot. The opening scene was sweet too. Screen starts dark, until the AB is lit and you realize you were looking into the dark exhaust before the burner kicks in. Wow! Thanks for not ruining this one, which would have been hard to do 😃
I was in the Marine corps when this movie was filmed, station on Nimitz, Marine detachment. It was filmed in 78 and the movie was released in 80. All the Marines but one in this movie were real Marines (my buddies). There were only 80 Marines on the ship, we ran the brig and nuclear weapons security. Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen were lost on the ship one day as I was doing my rounds, Kirk hollard at me "Marine! How the hell do you get off this thing?" I showed him the way off and got his autograph. Made friends with the special effects crew, partied with them every night when we were in port. Really cool time in my life.
That's awesome
Very cool
Cool story!
Among the most badass comments on UA-cam. Cheers from a former bubblehead.
My dad took me to see this film , I loved it and so wanted to see nimitz's for my self , I'm very envious on your luck being on board while they were filming .
I like how the movie with the most ridiculous plot premise had some of the most authentic aerial footage
Crazy right? This is the most realistic Navy movie made, and it’s a time travel sci fi flick.
There is a good video on here about how they put together the footage. They left it to VF-84.
this movie is super great,actually impressed dude!!!impressive from 1980s
@@nickkaning7616 you capping 😂🚮
@@orionprime2543 agre3ed, its a great "what-if", shame they bottled on the money shot!
"who's up there?"
"cougar and merlin , and mover and gonky."
"great, mover and gonky."
WasabiSniffer
"great, mover and gonky."🤣🤣🤣. As far as I concerned...Comment of the Day👍.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
...com on com on...move it gonk...
Stop talking and jink link lol
I feel the need.. the need for TOMCATS !
The Zeros in the movie were owned by the CAF. One of the Zero pilots was Archie Donahue who was a Marine F4U pilot at Okinawa after it was taken by US forces in 1945. He actually had shot down real Zeros and received the Navy Cross for his actions. He said the scene where the F-14s flew by and the Zeros were rocked by the wake of the F-14s was very real. He said it was the only time he gave full aileron and kept rolling the opposite direction!
Great info.
This movie is gold. Real footage instead of CGI
Wonderful isn't it!
The sad thing about CGI aerial footage in movies is that every single friggen DCS trailer made by Glowing Amraam beats those hooves down.
@@CakePrincessCelestia ; I concur, every anime and CGI movie gets the maneuvers wrong and they end up looking like RC planes, biplanes or just on a string doing bullshit.
Yep. I hope they never do a remake. It'd be a gigantic CGI/SJW mess.
You see those front canards come out on the F14 in the beginning? :D
Preacher: and do you ,mover, take this woman to be your wife?
Mover: "TOMCATS"
I hereby declare that henceforth, TOMCATS! means "yes". So it is written, so it is done.
Or it means no....;- )
@@Enflict "So it is written, so it is done." That phrase had me smiling. It brought back memories of the Cecil B Demille movie, the Ten Commandments.
Love the HOT SHOTS! one liner "I lost my cap...swing her around, we'll pick it up" What a great line!
Maybe we can hope for a Mover ruins Hot shots after this reference - would be awesome :)
I was hoping someone else caught it
As a 14 year old, Dad took me to the Cleveland Air Show to meet the pilots involved in the Gulf of Sidra incident. There were tomcats everywhere in that show. I was in heaven!
I was on the ship during the (1st) Gulf of Sidra incident. Afterwards, they painted a Mig on the tail of the two VF-41 F-14s.
@@jerrybandy3827 thanks for your service. We in Ohio were proud of the Navy and our country. It was a great time to be young.
@@jerrybandy3827 remember the t-shirts? "I'd fly 1000 miles to smoke a camel" lol
they were the sister squadron to these Tomcats, Fighting 84
Was I the only one waiting for Mover to react positively to the sound of the Vulcan? BRRRRRRRRRRT.
I know right how many films have you seen where the sound is like a conventional machine gun, even top gun got it wrong
@@GeneralG1810 True. Idk why Hollywood doesn't use the Brrrt, it sounds more intimidating as well.
@@infamousfalcon588 I know right, especially these days where even young kids know it's wrong. You'd think they'd have technical advisors to tell them
I was with u on that one.
With Moover's video delay, I was double taking between him and what we saw and heard, and I was "WTF?" on that scene, and then Mover is like "WTF! =)" and I was like....Tomcats =) IYAOYAS! 20 year US Navy Aviation Ordnanceman here.
Every time I watch The Final Countdown I keep hoping, somehow, that they'll actually carry out the attack on the Japanese fleet instead of returning.
Would of been very costly and time consuming without CGI. Some one made a strike fighters 2 mission tho..... Funniest shit just watching the A-6's and A-7s go ham on a WW2 fleet.
@@mosh.4245 Question was can a single carrier destory entire Japanese fleet, or at least get all the carriers?
@@Armadauzbekistan If they carried some of the (then) brand new Harpoon ASM, the Japanese would not have seen it coming.
Launched from over the horizon they would have taken out all the carriers and the cruisers.
Laser guided bombs will take out the Battleships from above the AA ceiling, rocket pods vs the destroyers.
@@Armadauzbekistan Yes, strike fighters isn't the most realistic sim, AI can be a bit dumb so some of the A-6'S and A-7's got splashed by AAA.
Every single time!
"You are cleared to arm but not fire!"
Yep, just paint those zeroes with a missile lock...their RWR's would warn them and they'll just bug out :)
Zeros did not have RWR's...Radar for planes were a dream til late late in WWII
@@williamhcollins2010 ; That is the joke.
Good one. Seriously though, they probably could have knocked them out of the sky just with a supersonic (or even high subsonic) "boom and zoom" pass
@@TS-ef2gv Especially considering they were flying with open canopies.
@@TS-ef2gv No joke at all.
Charles Durning, who plays the Senator aboard the yacht, was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division on June 6, 1944 and in the first wave of American troops that landed on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy. He would be the only survivor of his unit that arrived in France on D-Day. After being wounded by a German anti-personnel mine in the Bocage, he spent six months recovering. Durning was reassigned to the 398th Infantry Regiment with the 100th Infantry Division, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946. Among the medals he earned for his service was the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart with 2 Oak leaf clusters. He died December 24, 2012 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Thank you. Brilliant actor and a Hero all in one. RIP
Lol, this was fun. They were still using the Stuka diving sound effects when the Zero hit the water.
Always cool to see a YT channel that I subscribe to comment in the channel of another channel that I subscribe to. 👍👍👍
@@Rob_F8F Before the ejector seat Pilots had to literally jump out of the plane!
Jolly Rogers had the BEST tail art. EVER.
It is Beautiful!
The pilots said that their Tomcats were brand new when they filmed these scenes, and that they were practically peeling the labels off them. Also, during the scenes the Zeros were flying at full speed whilst the Tomcats were almost at stalling speed.
Ironically, we see A-7 Corsair II light attack aircraft being flown here by totally different squadrons, but the Jolly Rogers started flying with the original F4U Corsair fighter-bomber. The "V" markings on their planes and helmets are from when they were called The Vagabonds. I believe the real skull and crossbones that they keep in a cabinet are the remains of one of their first commanders who was killed in action during WWII, and ever since they've used that as their squadron logo and mascot.
You are a correct and a " bones" officer is assign to guard the bones. Not sure if that tradition is still ongoing but it was when I was a "pirate" back in the late 90s
You refer to Ensign Jack Ernie.
@@FS2K4Pilot Yeah. I forgot he was just an ensign though. I thought he was a commanding officer. Weren't the squadron given an official presentation of the bones at one point by one of Ernie's relatives?
White-Dragon Indeed so. He’s also still carried on the squadron roster. The reason why there’s a Bones Guard in that squadron id because Ensign Ernie occasionally has, or at least had, unsanctioned adventures with members of other squadrons. It was one of those Naval Aviator esprit-de-corps deals.
The a-7 squadrons were va-82 and VA -86 in 1987 they both switched to the fa-18c's , I was a jet engine mechanic in vfa 82 formally va-82 when I was in the navy from 1987 to 1992
Imagine Corsairs, intruders, Tomcats, Vikings, and Crusaders all on a single deck. Now it's all Super Hornets and Growlers.
I miss the A-7, A-6, F-14, S-3, F-8, EA-6, E-2 and C-2 days! (can't forget the Prowler, Hawkeye and Greyhound!)
Since I'm in my 50's its not hard to imagine at all.
There was even a Vigilante in the opening sequence, IIRC. Also, Phantoms in that era, right after Vietnam, looked cool with the DECM stuff, felt like an underdog next to the Tomcat, but still Phucking Phantoms.
When the S3 was on screen I was so disappointed no one called out "Hoover"!!!
It’s incredible....that’s why I love movies like Final Countdown because they show so much variety in the aircraft, and back then, that’s how aircraft were. Now it’s just whatever meets the minimum requirements and is cheap. I mean look at the ATF. The YF23 was better, but YF22 was cheaper and the public liked it and it was chosen
“Look at the slow speed Performance of the tomcat”
Tomcat: almost becomes the drink
You should watch behind the scenes with the pilot. The inverted dive into the water was a very controlled and planned maneuver. They did it on purpose to make it exciting and shocking since it was a summer blockbuster. The pilot said he knew exactly when to pull up and was at least a safe 100 feet over the waters when got the nose up. They overdubbed the noise of an engine spooling up with the wife of the pilot's scream when she first saw it. It is all in the behind the scenes.
ua-cam.com/video/KkmFkglHKFw/v-deo.html at 22:20 they explain how controlled the maneuver was.
Maverick (a.k.a. ANY Tomcat Driver) did that pilot shit right there.
@@2ZZGE100
Also they do a trick of zooming in on the Tomcat while it's diving to make it look like it's a much harder dive than it actually was.
@@CruelestChris Very true.
Gonky: "TOMCATS!"
Mover: "TOMCATS!"
My dogs immediately look at me like "you better say it Mark otherwise we eatin everything you own"
Me: "TOMCATS!"
Honestly I know I've said this before but it is funny as hell, when I'm watching the videos the dogs sit on the sofa next to me watching the TV and when Mover says "TOMCATS!" I always say "TOMCATS!" afterwards so now when he says it they look at me waiting for me to say it.
😂😂😂
Dude your dogs call you by your first name ? ;)
@@OrigMaelstrom yes only my dogs though, other dogs have to address me by my rank. 👍
@@L0r0x_o my dogs call me "sir!", I tell them "don't call me sir, I work for a living, call me "mister". 😊😁😂🐶
Your dogs rock
Those Tomcats are gorgeous with the Jolly Roger paint scheme... and yeah, they'd have performed the old surprise anal probe on the Japanese... as long as the munitions hold out.
At this point in time all the planes had full colour markings, not just the CAG, CO and exec.
@@white-dragon4424 80s was better then, not it sucks
I think these Tomcats are the inspiration for the anime Robotech Macross and the Skull Squadron. lol
Please do more of these with Mr. Covid 19 survivor, they are hilarious
@@Linerunner99 It actually was the inspiration.
Fun fact, my uncle was in VA-86 (A-7Es, he was an AD) on the Nimitz when Final Countdown was filmed. He has snuck some pictures of the film crew. Pretty cool
Hope you have those photos digitized for future generations because they literally are history now.
I think the Air Force is too busy with the Stargate program.
Yeah
SG1 guy
For real, the Navy and Marines always get the sweet hollywood movie deals with the Army once in a blue moon but I honestly can't think of a really great AF movie, who ever is the head PAO needs to grow a pair and get in on it.
@@kmmediafactory All of that AF stuff in Air Force One was CGI.
@@adamc6371 what? Have you never heard of “Strategic Air Command” and/or “The Hunters”? Both excellent 1950s USAF based movies...
@@CH-pv2rz I think there are even some more than this two.
*My father was on the Kitty Hawk (CV-63) during filming of this. And they asked to film some scenes on the Hawk(for convenience, I think.). But they wouldn't allow their 63's to be painted into 68's for the Nimitz. HOWEVER, they WOULD allow the studio to add lights to the Hawk's island, to make the 63 into a 68. So the studio settled for night shots with the Hawk.*
So awesome, my Dad was on the Nimitz when they were filming some of the scenes!
First time I saw Final Countdown was in the wardroom on the USS Enterprise CVN-65. Great movie!
First time I saw it was on the Nimitz. (1981-1984) I wasn't there for the filming though. Saw it too many times to count.
I watched he final countdown the other day and I still love it. For a movie filmed in the late 70's it's pretty awesome.
I suspect that's precisely why is pretty awesome. When you can't CGI everything you get real cinematography instead. And what amazing filming.
Finally The Final Countdown! Also....BRRRRT.
But something you guys forgot, and I would've loved to hear Gonky's take on it, is the A-7's barricade landing early in the film. The A-7 couldn't get its hook down. That wasn't in the script and the film crew quickly set up to film it. Did that ever happen on one of Gonky's deployments? What did he think of the scene? Scene here: ua-cam.com/video/UQ9Q3K8jp-o/v-deo.html
There’s a great scene of a plane without a tail hook coming in for a successful barrier landing. That was a real emergency that happened on ship while they were filming. It turned out that the crew performed so perfectly, and the plane in distress made a safe recovery, that the director asked to leave it in the movie. Sis keel and Egbert ragged on it for being fake and overly and unnecessarily dramatic. Ah they days before Twitter. They also almost crashed one of the Zero’s during the dogfight scene, when it got picked up and spun by the Tomcats wake.
Nearly lost an F-14 and two aviators!
@@av8bvma513 Yeah, that rather low near wavetop recovery that you see the F-14 do on film? That was an oops. Legend is that the Pilots wives screamed when they saw the film before it was released. The "Zero" pilt got tossed around and spun so badly that his helmet and goggles got ripped off his head and sucked out of the plane.
@@av8bvma513 That's a different scene than the one with the A-7 the OP is talking about.
I went to the theater with my dad and saw this. Fell in love with the Tomcat! Some of the best aviation footage in any movie.
When you think about it, the pilots in the movie were closer in time to the events of Pearl Harbor than we are now to the pilots of the movie.
Holy crap you just made me realize how old I really am…
I was a young SRA on a remote assignment at King Salmon Alaska when this movie came out. Our F4's launched to intercept the Russians from time to time. There were only 350 of us at the sight and we LOVED this cheesy movie. The camera operator would stop and rewind the film at all the cool spots, missile launch, impact, etc. Cheesy as it is it will always bring back memories of my youth.
As a 9 year old boy this movie gave me the greatest case of battle blue balls I've had before or since. I swear when the tomcats were recalled I nearly cried.
*Flight of the Intruder* would be a great movie to dissect, as well as Memphis Belle. They are two of my most favorite aviation films.
Has Mover ever done Iron Eagle?
@@malleygz3991 ; Of course he did. /watch?v=vDs7cJ62-QA & /watch?v=REtqz-zIhP4 and he even did the second one /watch?v=h2-kyvyxQ7U
I think the funniest part was after the sea king rescued the boat survivors and one zero pilot. And they just walk across the carrier deck like wtf
And when the Tomcats overtake the Zeros at the first time. The Japanese pilots: "What the hell...????"
I saw this in the theater when it came out. This movie was someone's fever dream, and that's why it was so good. "What if you took a nuclear powered aircraft carrier back to 1941, what would happen?"........let's make a movie
Like the Zipang manga
@@killian9314 oh look! someone else know about it!
but instead of a carrier, it's an advanced JSDF Aegis cruiser similar to the Arleigh-Burke class transported back to 1942 before the battle of midway
You should try the "Ring of fire" series by Eric Flynt. Basically an entire West Virginia town sent back to 1632.
@@erika002 They go back just before the battle of Guadalcanal.
@@Dragonman1OOO close but it's actually a day before the Battle of Midway look it up:
From Wikipedia: "After examining the situation, the crew realises that the ships they passed are part of the Imperial Japanese Navy and that they have somehow been transported back in time more than 60 years to June 4/5, 1942, the first day of the Battle of Midway. "
Hope everyone here in the US had a great Thanksgiving!
Great footage in the movie and it’s nice to see those vintage planes from 1980. Those beautiful Tomcats look brand new that is my favorite fighter.
I like that you've used the US Navy approach to fixing a problem. Instead of improving Gonky's audio you've dropped your own quality so there is no longer a difference. Better to normalise at the bottom than the top!
My CAG on a cruise was one of the pilots who flew some of those hops. This was filmed a few years prior to Nimitz heading to the west coast to re fuel in Bremerton as well. Years later I talked to one of the pilots at Oshkosh (around 1987) who flew for the Texas based Confederate Air Force. He said it was a task running full gas while the Tomcats were about ready to fall out of the sky....which one of them did on more than one occasion. He said that there were a couple "close calls" but only one was caught on film. Another involved a zero who went through some jetwash and almost fully departed at low level.
I bumped into a retired Tomcat pilot and we talked about this. He said heads nearly rolled. Bear in mind that those 'Zeros' were actually T-6 Texans and their max speeds barely exceeded the F-14's STALL speed...this meant that the Tomcats were yanking and banking right at the bleeding edge of a stall the whole time...
Whats the stall speed of the F-14? These guys had to be around the that speed the whole time.
My grandfather was the top turret gunner in a B-25 in the pacific in WW2 and had a special place in his heart for watching Japanese planes get ripped apart, he always loved this movie.
I always had to chuckle a little at seeing Prowlers launched with the main strike package. As if they were going to need ECM from the IJN. Side note: a buddy I worked with was one of the crew extras in this movie. He was one of the helo crew members. Specifically, the helo that brought in the Japanese pilot. My buddy was the crew member that handed the MarDet the personal effects of the pilot.
At 7:18 where the F14 makes that screaming sound, that was added in during post production. The pilot's wife watched the scene, let out a scream because she couldn't believe what she saw, the post production team modulated it and put it in there for the rest of us to enjoy.
Ok, now that we got to Final Countdown, PLEASE do Red Flag: The Ultimate Game (1981 film with Barry Bostwick).
LOL, I remember when this was first on TV it was called "Red Flag: The Most Dangerous Game." Supposedly, when the movie aired, some guys at Nellis were answering the phones with "Hello, Red Flag, the most dangerous game." Until they were told to cut it out.
Megaforce is still the best Barry Bostwick movie.
yes they mention cold lake alberta i was in cold lake 81-84
I saw that one!
@@gbonkers666 and I keep suggesting it, because it apparently uses real footage, and radio chatter, and doesn't have planes pretending to be other planes (though it has one shot of an f-15 mixed in).
Glad you guys finally got around to this. Nothing better than a Tomcat in a late 70s Jolly Rogers paint scheme. Don't forget "Flight of the Intruder."
It started out as Prowler, but it’s an Intruder when you call it the Prowler...
He's maybe a little young to recognize it as such?
@@dutchflats That, or he's now too much Air Force to recognize Navy airframes 😭
speaking of Intruder's another good movie is Flight of the Intruder.
@@Littlewing1977 "Fight..." was a great book and when it was made into a movie. I was like a youngster again at the Saturday afternoon matinee. I didn't care what changes were made, what was left out. it was Flight of the Freaking Intruder on the big screen. Life is so good:)
Saw that movie in the theater with my Dad when I was nine. Fell in love with aviation & am a pilot today because of it. That sequence still gives me goosbumps :)
Every time.
Nice Hot Shots reference haha Lloyd Bridges was hilarious in that.
I hope you do Flight of the Intruder next.
Agreed! That was an awesome film and novel!
Seriously. Been waiting for that one.
There's a follow up book where Jake becomes the CAG. Dont remember the name, but is really good too.
@@koori3085 the only follow up book I read was The Intruders. Jake essentially does a "punishment tour" after getting in a bar fight, getting Marine aviators up to speed on the A-6. He's still an O-3, maybe O-4...it's been decades since I read it. Definitely isn't a CAG though.
@@EvolvedTactical its actually Coonts' second novel published in '88 called Final Flight. Not only is Coolhand the CAG, but somehow has ended up in a TOMCAT! Had to look it up, it's a great read bud.
So when are you doing FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER?
Lt. Jake Grafton: "Fighter pukes make movies. Bomber pilots make... HISTORY!"
The point where he almost hit the water, the sound was actually a mix of the sound from the plane and the scream of the pilot's wife when she watched the scene. The pilot for that scene was Richard "Fox" Farrell of VF 84
I've heard that version of the story plus other versions on other YT videos that say it was something else. One "Making of Final Countdown" video on YT says it was mixed with a stock sound effect of a cat. To me it doesn't sound like either. It sounds more like just a mixed sound effect electronically generated in the post production sound editing process.
This is an unruinable movie. Four decades old and it’s still an easy decision for a rewatch.
Another vote for doing Flight of the Intruder next.
The aerial footage in the movie is simply amazing. Although there are things about it that aren't exactly 100% accurate, it's still a phenomenal movie.
Basically the Philadelphia Experiment meets Tora Tora Tora. (Also my favorite movie back when I wanted to be a Tomcat pilot. ... I was 17 y.o. when the Final Countdown was released.) For the record: I did make them tell me "No."
This is my second all time favorite movie (besides top gun) love those damn tomcats and I love these videos! Keep em coming.
It was my favorite move as a kid, and I think the only move where the sound of the 20 mm is correct, and this in the late 70's start 80's.
I've always wanted to see a remake of this where they actually do engage the Japanese by destroying the first wave before having to turn back. They could use it as an explanation for why the attack was originally planned to be 3 waves but only 2 happened.
Even ignoring the almost certain use of CGI though, they would probably screw it up in a lot of other ways too.
Not only do I like Mover Ruins Movies, but the interaction between you and Gonky is also so much fun to watch. May God bless and protect both of you and fill your lives with joy. You both earned and deserve it!
Sometimes I miss the 80s... It was back when the military was cool and did cool things like... Paint pirate flags on planes, and had recruitment movies like Top Gun and Iron Eagle. Now not so much.
Some traditions remain. For example, the USS Kidd (which is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer) hoists the Jolly Roger flag when it returns to home port after a deployment.
In addition, every US Navy ship flies a homeward-bound pennant when returning from overseas tours lasting at least 9 continuous months. The pennant has one star for the first 9 months of overseas duty, and one star for each additional 6 months. The total length of the pennant customarily is 1 foot for each officer and enlisted crew member who served overseas for a period in excess of 9 months, but the pennant cannot be longer the length of the ship.
The jolly rogers still have pirate flags on them images.app.goo.gl/Ue7ABWDNdHwFrwEbA
VFA-103 took the Jolly Rogers name off VFA-84 when that squadron was disbanded, they still have the skull and cross bones painted on the tails of the Squadron's F/A-18E's. Iron Eagle had no help from the USAF at all. The Aircraft in the film were Israeli Air Force F-16's and Kifi's (J-79 powered copies of the Mirage V).
Hell those Tomcats look good. Think about this: they are as antique now as the Zero was in the movie!!
Lol you know a new T-Shirt has to be made “Tomcats!!!”
Lol ha Mover listened..and I’ve ordered👍🏻👍🏻
Lol you didn't ruin the movie but you did put a kink in my day when you reminded me it was 40 years old ;) still remember watching it when I was a wee lad and it set the stage for Top Gun
The actor that played the Senator in the movie was a survivor of the Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge.
He also was on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
If I could die and come back as anybody... imagine being a Tomcat driver in the early 80's; loved those group formation shots.
Always loved this movie....would one carrier defeat the entire Japanese navy attacking Pearl Harbour
11:10 Can you imagine if they had carried out an attack. They would have certainly utterly destroyed the Japanese fleet, then reported back to Pearl Harbor and Admiral Kimmel.
Admiral Kimmel would have said, "Let me get this straight *CAPTAIN:* You launched an unprovoked sneak attack against the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, without authorization.
Your aircraft and your ship are impressive, and I actually believe it when you say that you are from the future. And I believe you that the Japanese fleet was on their way to attack this base. But the point is, they had not carried out that attack yet."
I imagine that such an attack you have been a political nightmare. Also preventing the attack would cause the support the war to evaporate.
On Dec ember 6th support for joining the war was extremely weak. By December 8th everything had changed. How would you generate support for the war without allowing that attack?
"The Japanese didn't believed in getting out"
F
Not in ‘41 and early ‘42 they didn’t. The Japanese Admiralty finally had to order them all wear parachutes. It didn’t help.
Before they introduced the Kamikaze program as an official strategy in the final phase of the war, there were quite a few 'spontaneous Kamikazes' during Japanese air raids.
As can be seen in the film "Tora Tora Tora!" the Japanese commander of one flight, rather than try to crash land, targets the biggest hangar he can find and crash dives into it.
Before taking off on what would be his final flight during the Battle of Midway, Japanese commander Tomonaga was informed the fuel tanks on his plane were damaged and so he would have only fuel for a one way trip. His pilots all offered to swap planes with him but he would have none of it.
@@AudieHolland There were a few instances of American Pilots doing the same. If they were going down they may as well hit something. The classic example being the A-26 that all most took out Admiral Nagumo early on in the Battle of Midway.
@@andrewtaylor940 Now that you mention it.
Henderson Field.
I think he kind of did a similar attack.
@@AudieHolland Henderson may or may not have been attempting that. he was attampting a level bombing run on the Hiryu with his plane on fire. But yeah he's probably a good example. of "if we're going down on fire, may as well try and hit something"
One of my favorite movies of all time. The movie just rocks with music, has some of the best jet footage in any movie, has good acting, and not a bad story. :)
Gonky:: talks about stuff in the movie:
Mover: TOMCATS
That CIC looks like it was filmed in both the CIC and CATCC , in a couple of the background shots you can see the ATC repeaters which were only in CATCC, the big stat boards were all over the place in both CIC (CDC) and CATCC, but the big plot tables were usually only found in CIC. I served on the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71 as an OS from '87 to '91 and spent a lot of time in CDC/CIC
I was an RD (pre-OS) late 60's and the commenters were wondering if the CIC scene was accurate. It absolutely is/was a CIC that they filmed in. I was on a cruiser so we didn't have a CATCC but the status boards and visible equipment was spot on.
@@usshornetmuseum3207 The repeaters with the large screens are the ATC repeaters, those screens were about 24" to 30" across. The surface search repeaters had much smaller screens about 12 to 15" across, spent many a watch staring into them....
I was wondering when you were going to do this one. Great Work!
I love that movie! The music is awesome. Magic moment is the tomcat coming out of the clouds behind the zero like an evil bird of prey!!! 🤩🤩🤩
I read that the Splash sequence was done down off Florida and it took about a week. One of the Zero pilots wrote about it and said it was a pretty miserable time doing it.
It was a good movie with my favorite naval aircraft the A6 intruder. Thanks for these videos.
can you imagine the look on a ww2 fighter pilots face when the tomcat, the size of a b25 comes STEAMING past!
B25? It was as big as a B17.
@@edmundscycles1 no
f14
length 62ft
wingspan 65ft
weight 65k lb
b17
length 74ft
winspan 103ft
weight
54k lb
tomcat is heavier but smaller
@@Scoobydcs while the wingspan is more on the B17 , if you superimpose an F14 over a B17 most of the B17 fuselage is obscured by the F14. The F14 is far bigger than the B25 in length (over 4m longer while less than a 2m shorter than the B17) .
@@edmundscycles1 not according to wiki. that lists the b17 length at 74 feet and the cat at 62, that makes the cat 12 feet shorter than the b17
@@Scoobydcs the f14 is 19.8m in length , the b17g was just a smidge under 22m in length .
I haven't seen this flick in years, but when I was a kid...this is what made me fall in love with the Tomcat...sorry.....TOMCATS!
Thanks for the flashback!
“Mae West” = life jacket 😂🤣
Did anyone else see the F-8 Crusader? "CRUSADERS!" The last gunfighter...
I did. It was an RF-8 though, the photo (recce) bird.
They just needed an A-4 to complete the full naval catalog in this film, but they must've been gone by 79/80.
@@dougmasters4579 By that time all the A-4's were with land based reserve, training and aggressor squadrons.
Yeah, at 10:50 F8 does a cat shot.
@dougmasters4579
the marines were still flying them in '78 - they retired thiers in the mid 80s when they got the harrier. (They didn't get the A7, which is what replaced the A4 in the Navy)
The navy retired their last deployed A4 squadrons in '76
Tomcats are the coolest planes ever!
I really wish they had an alternate ending so we could see the result of an entire carrier air wing vs an entire enemy fleet
1941 US may have not joined WWII if there was no attack on Pearl Harbor because 1980 Nimitz wrecked the entire Japanese Navy in 1941 time warp.
It was so nice that the time tunnel allowed the squadrons of planes to land back on the carrier before going back to 1980.
It's actually covered in the Novel that was released at the same time as the film., Why the Nimitz went back in time and why it was pulled back to 1980 when it was. I've not actually read the Novel, but managed to find a cheap copy of it on-line and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. I do recall somebody explaining what happened in the book as being along the lines of due to some form of Natural or Man made Wormhole, the Ship goes back in time. After 24 hours or so, a Man made Wormhole drags it back (plus the deployed air group). The second wormhole is man made as it follows the ship as the Captain tries to outrun and evade it. Who made the time machine? The one guy in 1941 who knowns that time travel is possible and does know what is going to be happening to the world in the next 40 years and get very rich doing so!!! This is of course, Cdr Owens, the CAG, AKA Mr Tideman!!! I'll have to read the book to see, if he sent the ship back in the first place, so he could be dumped there and met his wife.
New drinking game, take a shot each time they say TOMCAT!
My dad was in this movie Sr. Chief of cammand in real life on the USS Nimitz CVN-68
Haha. One of my fave movies. As cheesy as some of it is, the cinematography was amazing for the era. Great aerial footage! But yeah, attacks in fingertip? How many RAP sorties are required for that? 😂
I was on the Nimitz from 80-84 but they had filmed it before I was stationed there. Whenever we would complete an underway replenishment (unrep), they would do a "break away" and the Nimitz would play the theme music from the movie.
Kirk Douglas doesn’t need permission from anyone!
This movie always gives me goose bumps every time I see the tomcats initially introduce themselves to the zeros. I wish they had a chance to fight the Japanese fleet - maybe part 2. Great review guys.
11:00 Funny thing is, with the speed and payload capability of the F-14, you would only need a two-ship flight performing CCRP/CCIP bombing from 10 000 ft with Mk84 general purpose bombs to completely annihilate that task force. You'd launch at most 4 F-14s with bombs, 1 per enemy carrier. The rest would be loaded for air combat, and would escort the strike package. Then those F14s would drop their bombs on target, pushing the release envelope far lower than you could get away with in the modern era, before climbing out and egressing transonic back to the carrier.
Thats if they decided to bomb the enemy, rather than just sail the carrier itself toward the enemy and demanding their surrender. Furthermore, he would have nuclear munitions on board which would dwarf the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
If I was in command of that carrier, under those circumstances, I'd be sailing my nuclear armed carrier to Japan, contacting the Japanese government to notify them of their imminent surrender, then detonate a nuclear weapon in the mountains. The blast should level enough of the forest to highlight the effectiveness of the weapon without requiring human suffering. I would then sail my carrier towards Europe, and repeat the process with Germany. Finally, I'd sail my carrier home to the States, and bet the US government that if I can sink an entire 1940s carrier task force with a single bomb, they would appoint me senior advisor to the Presidency for the next 60 years. Then, once a 1942 era carrier group is formed, I would request for their safety the ships be evacuated. I would then drop a single nuclear weapon amidst the fleet, sinking every single vessel in that fleet within minutes of the detonation. America, witnessing the destruction, would grant me the position in exchange for the technology.
I'd have to revert to astronavigation throughout this whole process, as the military satellite network won't have been launched for another 20 years or more, so there's no GPS. Reverse engineering a single AIM-9B would advance rocket technology to the point the US could begin the Apollo programme within 5 years at most. A single computerised device would allow us to leapfrog devices like the Turing Machine and grant us the integrated curcuit before the end of the 40s. I'm not sure if DARPAnet was a thing yet, so I won't assume that I can give them the Internet. Just about anything I sent would be made of a material that wasnt even invented yet. Advanced radar technology didn't exist. Jet engines didn't exist. Ballistics resistant composites comprising the windows of CIC would advance tank technology, as would the composites of the hull.
Basically, we'd be stripping the carrier down to its bolts, with each crewman teaching their own personal team of scientists how the technology they operate works.
The US submarine programme would benefit immensely just from the SIGINT department, let alone deconstruction of the ships hull and material analysis.
Laser targeting pods would allow LASER/MASER technology to leapfrog forwards.
A single 1980s US carrier travelling back in time would radically advance the rate of progress of science. The divergent timeline would feature incalculable numbers of early scientific breakthroughs. I'd guess that the only thing on a 1980s aircraft carrier that already existed in 1941 would be the toilets.
The medical equipment on board would radically change the face of the medical field basically overnight.
It's not unlikely there will be a medical journal on board containing breakthroughs in medical science.
As an example, the easy release mechanism on a socket wrench didn't exist until the 70s.
Tupperware didn't exist until 1946.
The first defibrillator didn't exist until the following year. Even a can of hairspray in the bunk of a random crewman would be almost a decade before it's time, as would the barcode on that can. The airsickness bag wasn't invented yet either.
Neither was the airbag, wetsuit, bread clip, voltmeter, marker pen, WD-40, ziploc bag, ready meal, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, active noise cancellation, synthetic diamonds, the doppler effect (which we use in Fetal Doppler Echocardiograms, not just RADAR), lint rollers, bubble wrap, single serve sugar sachets, zip ties, carbon fibre and spandex. And that's just all the technologies that would be present on a US carrier that was invented BEFORE 1960. Spandex was invented in 1959. There are countless technologies invented between 1960 and 1980 I won't bother to list, so lengthy is that list.
Ok id rather load the a-7 's an a-6's with bombs since , they are attack aircraft and can carry a bigger bomb load .
Raising money for good causes. Talking nostalgia about Airwolf, Talking about awesome hidden gem movies like Final Countdown. On and on. Thank you.
4:33 yaw string master race yay
All this Aerial Footage was because of the AIRWOLF Alumni (shot 5 years before that TV show) incl. the legendary J. David Jones (Airwolf's Aerial Co-Ordinator / 2nd Unit Director / chief Helicopter Stunt Pilot during 1st/2nd Seasons); David Butler (Director of Photography on Airwolf's Aerial Unit during 1st/2nd Seasons), and Stan Lazan (Cinematographer on 1st/2nd Seasons). ***THAT's*** why this footage looks so awesome and filmed to jaw-dropping perfection. When you'd these three guys together it created magic, both in 1979, and later 1984-85 on first two years of 'Airwolf' TV series.
I’ve never been this early - not even to my own birth!!!
I need to rewatch this movie, it's been too many years since I've seen it, yeah, I'm old.
Want to really feel old. That movie was filmed 39 years after Pearl Harbor and 40 years ago from today.
Bastard . Lol
A lot of the people who worked on the movie were old enough to remember Pearl Harbor as an event.
At 4:40 on the left plane and again at 5:49, you can see the front glove vanes extended just over the intakes. This was only on early F14 A’s and welded shut on later models.
The film was is little hokey, but still one of my favorites.
The anniversary edition of Final Countdown has a interview with the pilots. The story about touching the cameraman’s foot with the refueling probe was awesome.
Actually, if a Tomcat got slowed down for a turning fight with a P-51, I could see the P-51 winning easily.
If a Tomcat enters into a turning fight with any pre-Sturmvogel WW2 fighter, it *deserves* to lose.
I saw The Final Count Down in the theater when it came out. I went to the 1100 show and stayed for two additional showings! I couldn't get enough of TOMCATS and CV ops! There was no internet back then and the likely hood of seeing any footage like that was slim. Maybe during a PBS special or a Navy recruiting film was about the closest you would come, once in a blue moon. For a 17 year old aviation/history buff, the movie was great, regardless of the sci fi plot. The opening scene was sweet too. Screen starts dark, until the AB is lit and you realize you were looking into the dark exhaust before the burner kicks in. Wow! Thanks for not ruining this one, which would have been hard to do 😃
This is a bad week to give up sniffing hydraulic fluid
I just watched this movie today. As someone who's interested in carrier operations, there were a lot of carrier scenes and I loved them.
My favorite UA-cam dynamic duo, Gonky and Mover!
You all should do some some DCS flights together. Dogfight in an 18 v 16 or something