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Just for fun: Match the movie with the airplane

How well do you know your aviation films?

Here are 20 popular aviation movies and their plots. Can you match the movie and its iconic aircraft?
Pilot Briefing January
Illustration by Barry Downard

1. Always (1989). Richard Dreyfuss and John Goodman are aerial firefighters—one dies and comes back to mentor a new pilot.

2. The Aviator (2004). Leonardo DiCaprio plays the eccentric Howard Hughes.

3. Con Air (1997). Convicts Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich get a wild flight home.

4. Die Hard 2 (1990). Bruce Willis returns as John McClane to save his wife at Dulles International Airport.

5. Flight of the Intruder (1991). Based on the book by aviation author Stephen Coonts.

6. Flight of the Phoenix (1965, 2004). James Stewart crash-lands in the desert. Then Dennis Quaid.

7. Fly Away Home (1996). Jeff Daniels teaches some geese how to fly home.

8. The Great Waldo Pepper (1975). Barnstorming in the 1920s with Robert Redford.

9. The High and Mighty (1954). John Wayne takes the controls in this film based on an Ernest Gann novel.

10. High Road to China (1983). Tom Selleck flies an heiress across China in search of her father.

11. Memphis Belle (1990). The story of the Flying Fortress (which might give this one away…).

12. Octopussy (1983). It’s Roger Moore against the Soviets.

13. Planes (2013). In which Dusty wins the hearts of children everywhere.

14. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Indiana Jones tussles with a very big Nazi.

15. Six Days, Seven Nights (1998). Harrison Ford gets into trouble in Tahiti.

16. Sully (2016). Tom Hanks is the pilot; the Hudson River is the runway.

17. Thunderball (1965). Sean Connery as James Bond tangles with Spectre.

18. Twelve O’Clock High (1949). Gregory Peck remembers his 12 comrades of World War II.

19. Top Gun (1986). The movie in which Tom Cruise loses his friend “Goose.”

20. You Only Live Twice (1967). Sean Connery as James Bond heads to Tokyo and meets the mysterious Blofeld.

Bonus: Air America (1990). Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. play pilots who fly missions in Laos during the Vietnam War.

  1. Douglas A-26 Invader
  2. Hughes H–1 Racer
  3. Fairchild C-123 Provider
  4. Boeing 747
  5. Grumman A–6 Intruder
  6. Fairchild C-82 Packet (1965), Fairchild C–119 (2004)
  7. UFM Easy Riser
  8. Standard J-1 biplane
  9. Douglas DC-4
  10. Stampe SV.4C
  11. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
  12. Bede BD-5J
  13. Composite of Air Tractor AT-502, Cessna Ag Wagon, and Dromader
  14. Flying Wing was built for the movie, but wasn't a real airplane
  15. de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver
  16. Airbus A320
  17. Avro Vulcan
  18. Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
  19. Grumman F-14 Tomcat
  20. Wallis WA-116 autogyro
  21. Bonus. Fairchild C-123
Julie Walker

Julie Summers Walker

AOPA Senior Features Editor
AOPA Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker joined AOPA in 1998. She is a student pilot still working toward her solo.

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