Pearl Harbor update

Air Classics, Sep 2000 by O'Leary, Michael

FILMING IS RAPIDLY PROGRESSING IN DISNEY'S SPRAWLING EPIC FILM PEARL HARBOR

WHICH WILL BE INCLUDING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, THE JAPANESE SNEAK ATTACK ON HAWAII, AND THE DOOLITTLE RAID ON JAPAN

Van Nuys Airport has been the setting for many movies over the years. Remember the classic scene of Humphrey Bogart forcing Ingrid Bergman onto an airliner in Casablanca? That was done at Van Nuys and the hangar is still standing but it is now being used for industrial rather than aviation uses. A list of movies made at the field would make for fascinating reading and the Hollywood influence even extended to the Air National Guard when they used to be based at the field - a large sign on one of the hangars proudly proclaimed "Home of the Hollywood Guard!"

Today, the Air Guard has moved its operations to NAS Point Mugu but the hangars still carry on the Hollywood tradition. As we have highlighted in recent issues, the new film Pearl Harbor is making a major use of aircraft and filming at a number of diverse locations - one of the newest being at the ex-ANG base at Van Nuys, but more of that a bit later.

The filming in Hawaii went off extremely well. US Navy cooperation was excellent and the flying Was demanding and exciting. "Some of the best flying I have ever done," commented one of the fighter pilots, For assembling such a collection of vintage and veteran hardware, there were remarkably few mechanical problems - thanks to the hardworking ground crews that kept the aircraft in constant flight readiness. "Flying behind the Mitchell (being used as a camera platform), wasn't too bad," stated a pilot, "but that T-28 was a bitch. The plane was fitted with underwing camera pods and these threw out a very turbulent wake. I was flying about 20 feet over the water, coming in to attack the ships;and the T-28 was in front of me filming, Suddenly, I hit the wake turbulence and it nearly flipped me upside down. From that point, we had a pilot briefing and talked about being very careful behind the T-28."

Another pilot said, "I was going around the corner of a hangar, chasing another fighter, and we went through the scene several times. Needless to say, having the wing tip that low to the ground called for extreme concentration but, on one turn, I looked up and saw the film crew looking down at me. That's low!

Some of the filming was done in formation with a helicopter. "For a Doolittle sequence, we were flying the B-25 uphill at just 95 knots to satisfy the helicopter pilot. That gives a new meaning to low and slow!"

Readers know that one of the Vals was destroyed when it smacked into a palm tree, tearing off a wing and flipping the doomed plane through the air. "I was orbiting over the area," said one of the Zero pilots. "I saw the accident coming and couldn't believe it when the wing tore off and the plane did a couple of flip-flops and crashed. I figured the pilot had to be dead." Fortunately, Gene Armstrong walked away from the wreckage With minimal scratches but the Val was demolished.

A second accident occurred towards the end of filming when a Zero pilot accidentally retracted the craft's landing gear as the plane rolled out. Damage was relatively minimal but the aircraft was definitely out of the running. The Zero is now being repaired by Pete Regina Aviation at Van Nuys.

On the subject of Zeros, it currently appears (and one must remember that these movie situations are extremely fluid and what might be set in stone one day, will be completely different the next day) that Zeros will fly to the USS Lexington and perform touch and goes on the vintage carrier's deck. They will not be allowed to land on the ship but the film makers will use the footage to simulate the takeoff for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the return to the carriers. The Lexington will be made up as a Japanese carrier and this has caused protest from certain veterans' groups but they, in turn, should recall that the Lex was a stand-in for a Japanese ship during the 1976 pot boiler Midway.

Numerous other controversies have made their way into the general media. As with any major movie, there are always internal conflicts and script writer Randall Wallace parted ways with the movie but will still be listed as main writer. Director Michael Bay wanted Wallace to change some of the dialog in the script but the writer thought the changes would make the dialog too contemporary.

Wallace did not want to include "contemporary" dialog that would have Doolittle swearing and he told the director that he could bring in whatever writers he wanted but there was no way he would work in that manner. Hopefully, the feeling of the period will not be overly changed to satisfy contemporary requirements.

Now, getting back to Van Nuys. Starting on 3 July, the film makers began arriving at the Air National Guard facility with replica P-40s, vintage vehicles and weapons, and set dressing including palm trees and hundreds of sand bags for gun emplacements. Lots of aircraft wreckage was scattered around the area including a "blown up" DC-3 whose center portion was the burned-out wreckage of the forward fuselage of a Boeing 707! Some of the P-40 replicas were looking fairly tired and obviously had received battle damage during filming in Hawaii. Studio craftsman repaired and patched the airframes and freshened up the paint where needed. Up close, the replicas are not overly convincing but I'm sure they will look fine on film. Steve and John Hinton brought in two flyable P40s which were parked on the ramp while Skip Evans flew in with his DC-3. The DC-3 was being utilized in a scene that has surviving Doolittle Raiders arriving at the base to receive honors. All-in-all, it looked fairly convincing.