Sierra Hotel Blog
The definitive Sierra Hotel Aeronautics list of must-see aviation films and TV series — from Top Gun and The Right Stuff to 12 O’Clock High, Memphis Belle, Flight of the Intruder, The Dam Busters, Apocalypse Now, and everything in between. If it flies, it’s on the list.
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On December 4, 1950, Lt. Thomas Hudner deliberately crash-landed his Corsair behind enemy lines to save his wingman Ensign Jesse Brown — the first Black Navy pilot — trapped in his burning aircraft. Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of bravery.
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Shot down over France on his 59th mission, Bob Hoover was captured and sent to Stalag Luft 1. After 16 months as a POW, he escaped, found a damaged Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on an abandoned airfield, forced a German mechanic to start it, and flew it to freedom in the Netherlands. He had departed in a Spitfire — and came home in a Focke-Wulf.
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On September 4, 2003, three Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagles flew over Auschwitz-Birkenau, each piloted by a child of Holocaust survivors. Formation leader Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel read over the radio: 'We pilots of the Air Force, flying in the skies above the camp of horrors, arose from the ashes of the millions of victims and shoulder their silent cries, salute their courage and promise to be the shield of the Jewish people and its nation Israel.'
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Shot down in Vietnam, severely burned, and told he'd never fly again, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul endured 15 major operations before returning to fly the world's fastest jet at Mach 3 and 90,000 feet. Written by aviation historian and longtime friend Cory Crowell, this is a personal account of 30 years alongside one of the most remarkable aviators who ever lived.
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