[ARC5] 500 - fake aircraft

[Bill Cromwell]

On Wed, 2012-08-15 at 18:52 +0100, Alan Morriss wrote:
> hello again. in britain we can obtain special permission (an NOV) to operate on 500 khz. i tried for it , but there are so many restrictions and conditions that i gave it up . i wanted to work my 1154/1155 on it. 
> to return to accuracy in films. i know that the "zeros" in "the empire of the sun " were only disguised T6 trainers like in "tora tora tora" , but every effort was made to attain accuracy.  for instance , we initially had the cannons turned out of wood , as we did not want the weight of metal ones putting the centre of gravity too far forward. we also had replica gunsights fitted.
> charlie bishop, the art director insisted we had metal cannons made and we had them knocked up by a local metal working firm down in spain. i queried as to why, and he told me that when they were blown up for the wide screen you would see the grain of the wood. , and some small boy would be bound to see there were no gunsights !  
> we had to put a lead weight in the tail to balance the aircraft . it was all great fun ! alan
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Hi Alan,

I was stationed at Pearl Harbor when they shot Tora, Tora, Tora. I only
ever saw three airplanes and we were told those were the only remaining,
flyable zeroes in the world. I am not an aircraft expert by any means.
So now what should I believe? The people who were there making the
movie? Do you have a reference I can check? I would like to keep my "old
days" stories straight <grin>.

The building I worked in at Pearl survived that attack (nowhere near the
battleships or any of the airfields). The "zeros" made a strafing run on
us. I have it on super 8 film somewhere. I stopped the camera and waited
until lunch time. I restarted the camera as two dozen dungaree clad
sailors can barreling out to go to lunch! A cool piece of amateur film.

73,

Bill  KU8H