Splash The Zeros!
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In the late 70’s Hollywood producer Peter Douglas, son of Kirk Douglas, had a very promising science fiction script, but was hampered with a limited budget. The plot was an interesting one, a US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier gets caught in a strange storm at sea and ends up back in 1941. The implications of a state-of= the art US warship teeming with modern jets and weaponry sitting in the middle of WW2 the very day before Pearl Harbor would spike anyone's interest…Amazingly, this story was able to attract the attention of the U.S. Navy, and the full cooperation of the Department of Defense, who recognized the potential of the film as a public relations tool.
The Navy required full adherence to safety in any film sequences involving their crew and equipment, and the necessity to maintain operational readiness, and as long as these conditions were met, they were on board. All film schedules would be dependent on the "on location" naval consultant for approval. At the time, the squadron was getting ready for deployment, and for those involved in the film, it would mean losing five additional weeks of time at home with her families.
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Now armed with Three Mitsubishi A6M Zero replicas, originally built for the film Tora! Tora! Tora, 5 super clean F-14 Tomcats in Jolly Rogers colours, one mounted with Panavision cameras, a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, a converted B-25 bomber, and a Lear jet to be used as specialized camera platforms. Filming commenced at Naval Air Station Key West, Naval Station Norfolk, and off the Florida Keys, over a set of two five-week periods in 1979.
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As Hollywood mixed with the United States Navy, It would seem that the learning process was not reserved just for the pilots. During a scene being filmed on board the USS Nimitz, a camera, and its operator got too close to a Tomcat on a cat shot, and were blown clear across the flight deck, thankfully caught by the restraining nets at the end, and again, equipment and film crews were caught in the jet blast when trying to get that perfect shot behind a Tomcat lighting up its burners at Norfolk.
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The real fun began when the pilots of VF-84 in their Tomcats started to simulate a dogfight with the Confederate Air Force T-6 Texans dressed up like Mitsubishi A6M Zeros. The pilots of VF-84 requested as much licence as they could as they approached the complications of not only engaging WW 2 warbirds with F-14 Tomcats, but also capturing it on film.
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Closure speeds, performance envelopes, camera angles, position, lighting, along with everything else that might go into a Hollywood production. Certainly a different mission for the pilots of VF-84, but they were determined to make it a success.
In a behind-the-scenes interview about the filming, pilots of the Jolly Rogers; CO Emory Brown, Richard Stephen “Fox” Farrel, AL “Shoes” Mullen, James “Tex” Houston, Bill “Bull” McCluskey, and Brain “Bear” Tyndall told some interesting stories about their short, and most unlikely time in the Hollywood spotlight.
In one scene, the F-14 Tomcats were meant to introduce themselves to the unsuspecting Japanese Zeros, one flown by war ace Archie Donahue.
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When the Tomcats made their high-speed pass, the Zeros were unceremoniously welcomed with a “Bump” which is a nice sounding name for the invisible tsunami by the wake of the passing cats that ripped the aircraft controls free of their hands, with one of the Zeros pilots losing his headset as it went up and out of his open cockpit. Filming ended that day since they could no longer communicate without the missing headset. Take 2...
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One afternoon after a day of filming, a few of the Jolly Rogers pilots were back at the hotel sitting with the film director, when Catherine Ross sat down on the other side of the restaurant bar. The pilots asked the director if they could possibly introduce themselves to her, so the director stepped away to speak to Catherine Ross and returned shortly after, "she said no she doesn’t want to meet you”
This did not sit well with the group of Jolly Roger pilots, with one muttering "Really, we’ll see about that”
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The next morning during air-to-air filming, one of the F-14s pulled up close behind the film ship and the pilot raised a small sign. The next morning both cast and crew assembled to view the dailies when Catherine Ross looked up at the large screen and saw plain as day, a Tomcat in flight with the pilot holding up that little sign…and it said "FU Catherine Ross we didn’t want to meet you anyway!”
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As filming continued, building the story scene by scene, a new one needed to be shot simulating a mid-air re-fuelling. To accomplish this, Al “Shoes” Mullen inched his F-14 snuggly behind the B-25 camera plane with Dave Butler behind the lens. Dave motioned with his foot to “Shoes” to come closer, and closer, and closer, gesturing that he wanted to touch the nose of the Tomcat. As any pilot knows, static that builds up around an aircraft in flight can be quite formidable.
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At first refusing the request, “Shoes” finally gave into temptation and bumped up the throttle. As expected, the second the cameraman's foot contacted the nose of the electrified F-14, all the static built up around the entire Tomcat's panelled skin then leaped forward, through the cameraman's foot, instantly launching him into the recesses of the film ship.
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Then came a day of filming that has reached legendary status in Hollywood, the US Navy, and in aviation circles. All you have to do is ask about “That Shot” The set up was a full-blown fur ball between the F-14s, and the Japanese Zeros. and amid the epic battle, Richard Stephen “Fox” Farrel pulls into the camera frame, with his nose high, rolls his aircraft onto its back, and drops into a split S with wings outstretched and engines screaming...as "Fox" pulled out at what seemed to be inches above the white caps below.
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In the final movie release, the sound of the engine was mixed in with the actual sound of Fox's wife screaming as she watched the video...
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On the night of the Premier, the chief of Naval operations was at the reception. After seeing the film, the Admiral said "You guys did one hell of a job! just a beautiful job. We’re going to get some really good showcasing of the F-14 in the US Navy and HOW LOW WAS HE???
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To this day, the breakaway music used by the USS Nimitz played over the 1MC, the "all hands" circuit remains the theme from "The Final Countdown.”
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(Images courtesy of United Artists "The Final Countdown" 1980)
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Spring or early Summer 1979, I walked down the pier between the USS Nimitz and the USS Independence, headed for work on the Indy. Looked up at the Nimitz, and saw Kirk Douglas. I had no idea what he was doing there, but finally understood two years later when I watched the movie. LOVED the movie, and have watched it several times since that first time.
Great movie. I was an air operations officer on the Nimitz from 2013 to 2014 and it was pretty cool to watch the show while I was on board and then identify the areas on the ship that appear in the film. One small, and insignificant, error in the article: The breakaway music is no longer the theme song from the movie (nor, even more tragically, is it Europe’s excellent rock ballad of the same name), or at least it wasn’t while I was there. It’s chosen by the conning officer who’s in charge of driving the ship during that particular evolution and changes every time. Lonely Island’s “I’m On a Boat” was a particularly popular choice in my time, because of course it was.
When I first seen this movie I was wrapped in it. I still have the DVD also I wrote to USS Nimitz for s hips patch and a Jolly Roger patch. To my amazement they sent the Jolly Roger patch. I also remember when Nimitz visited Fremantle Western Australia and anchored off shore. Magnificent ship👍🇦🇺
There was a RIO in my reserve squadron who told the story that he was basically departed but got it back with burner. He was soundly roasted at his hail and fairwell party.
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