Just for fun: Pop culture influences

And it was true; a military recruiter at the time of Tom Cruise’s depiction of U.S. Navy pilot “Maverick” (1986) was reported as saying that when he asked of the numerous young people why they were signing up, they told him it was because of the movie. But aviation has been a part of popular culture since the first Academy Award for Best Picture went to the 1927 movie Wings. Consider these influences:

Wings (1927). Silent film set during World War I starring Clara Bow (if you don’t know who Clara Bow was, think Nicole Kidman circa 1920). Known for its realistic air combat scenes.

Top Gun (1986). Young pilots in the elite U.S. Navy fighter weapons school learn a few things about life in the air and on the ground (starring Kidman’s first husband).

Sky King (1951-1962). Television series about a rancher in Arizona; his niece Penny; and his Cessna 310, Songbird.

Black Sheep Squadron (1976-1978). Television series about misfit pilots during World War II. Robert Conrad played Greg “Pappy” Boyington, a World War II flying ace.

Magnum P.I. (1980-1988). One of the top TV series in history, Tom Selleck’s character often flies the islands of Hawaii in a helicopter.

M*A*S*H (1972-1983). TV series spinoff of the movie of the same name, the Bell 47 was as much a starring character as the rest of the cast.

Jimmy Stewart. A real-life pilot and star of the 1957 film The Spirit of St. Louis. Stewart also plays the pilot of a Fairchild C–82 who makes an emergency landing in the Sahara in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).

Airplane! (1980). Considered one of the funniest movies of all time, this parody of the Airport movie series introduced phrases such as: “Flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes” and “Surely you can’t be serious? I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

Airport (1970). Managing an airport—during a snowstorm, with a stowaway and a suicide bomber on a landing airplane—is a tough but exciting job. There were three sequels.

Sully (2016). Everyone wants Tom Hanks as their pilot if they can’t have the original Chesley Sullenberger. Re-creating the true story of the “Miracle on the Hudson” landing of a US Airways flight.

Flight (2012). Or maybe you want Denzel Washington—drunk or not drunk—performing landing miracles.

The Bob Cummings Show (1955-1962). Actor Bob Cummings played a “swinging” photographer who flew around Los Angeles in a Mort Taylor Aerocar. The actor was a commercial pilot and owned his own twin-engine airplane.

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Set in 1913, this comedy feature film is about an international aircraft race hoping to win glory for Great Britain.

Wings (1990-1997). The television series was set in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where two brothers ran the small airline Sandpiper Air.

TaleSpin (1990-1991). A Disney cartoon that somehow blended Rudyard Kipling and aviation. The characters of Kipling’s The Jungle Book become bush pilots. My sons loved this show (but neither became pilots).

Air America (1990). Young pilots (Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.) fly CIA front missions in Laos during the Vietnam War. The hillside landing alone is worth watching the movie.

American Dad (2005-present). Speaking of the CIA, Agent Stan steals the Spirit of St. Louis from the Smithsonian so son Steve will do well in school.

Family Guy (1999-present). Glenn Quagmire is a commercial airline pilot, and also flies an aerobatic airplane, a biplane, and a World War II Zero.

Planes (2013). Although it did not do as well as its cousin Cars, the computer-animated film did give us Dusty Crophopper.

Always (1989). A list must end sometime so I’m ending this with my personal favorite. Romantic, funny, sad, this Richard Dreyfuss movie shows how mentorship can help fellow pilots—even when it hurts.

What did we forget? Email [email protected] with the subject line “Pop Culture.”

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