You see expensive aircraft in movies all the time, but it’s not always easy to get permission to use the real thing. And miniatures, while they have their place, don’t always do the trick. So movie productions often rely on full-scale mockups that, while they don’t work, look just like the real thing. Read the stories behind seven of these mockups.
The futuristic F/A-37 Talon appeared in the 2005 film Stealth, and is pictured here during a simulated launch from USS Abraham Lincoln (although reportedly filmed aboard USS Carl Vinson). The F/A-37 Talon was a single seat stealth fighter built to test cutting edge technologies on the battlefield. It had a central “brain”, which predictably caused it to develop a (dangerous) mind of its own. The “Talon” bore an interesting resemblance to the Northrop Switchblade concept, in a film that was unfortunately considered one of the biggest financial losses in Hollywood history.
Other props had a better result, and a few were used over and over in subsequent films. Read about these full-size aircraft replicas at Urban Ghosts.