Aviation History - USA (2019-09)

Needle-nosed jets with sweptback wings were an

irresistible draw to those raised on space heroes like

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emerged from the postwar dream factories were

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to depict a world hardly imagined by middle-class

American audiences.

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hopelessly outdated. But the superb Strategic Air

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maker’s art as has ever touched the silver screen. In

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others that deserve more appreciation than they

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Brennan (Humphrey Bogart) and hard-nosed mil-

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Brennan is unconvinced it will work. Brennan suc-

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go unnoticed. Some footage was shot on location

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now Edwards Air Force Base.

Toward the Unknown is an almost-forgot-

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Bond goes to Edwards AFB seeking work as a test

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is not convinced he is trustworthy and blocks his

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routine support and chase missions for other pilots.

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which the Air Force is considering accepting for

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but the general doesn’t believe him.

After Bond saves Banner when his drogue chute

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to trust one another. Bond is given the coveted

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throwing it out of control. He

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testing is for younger men.

Toward the Unknown was almost

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home of the Air Force Flight

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scenes used process mockups

and miniatures to show Bond

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plane directly behind Banner’s

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the aircraft virtually impossible

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tank of his plane into the center

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lapse and enabling Banner to

land safely.

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inventory of aircraft the USAF

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Starfire and North American F-86 Sabre are

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is seen testing the system. A look at the background

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AH 55

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September 2019

BODY DOUBLES

Top: William Holden

(right) and Lloyd Nolan

play test pilots and

a rare Martin XB-51

bomber plays the

Gilbert XF-120 fighter

in director Mervyn

LeRoy’s treasure

trove of 1956 aircraft,

Toward the Unknown.