Iron Eagle III

[Kosh]

Don´t laugh but I watched this film some time ago as a friend loaned his DVD. The film was OK, though it would have been better had they stuck to the aircraft´s original armament and built the cockpit mock-ups better...One question, I did not recognize whose P-38 they used but if someone knows this particular aeroplane I´d like to know whether it still has functional turbos (some idiot P-38 owners have ruined theirs by removing the turbos).

[karrart]

Originally Posted by Kosh

........One question, I did not recognize whose P-38 they used but if someone knows this particular aeroplane I´d like to know whether it still has functional turbos (some idiot P-38 owners have ruined theirs by removing the turbos).

Perhaps this should be answered in some other category, but anyway.....
That was the Chino Planes of Fame P-38 that flew for many years in a aluminum paint finish and was named "Joltin' Josie". She's still flying but has since been refurbished in olive drab and gray. Her turbos are fiberglass dummies purely for visual effect. Operating turbos add another complex mechanical system that has wear and tear and parts replacement problems Some warbirds have them, some don't. I've heard a B-17 actually needs then to get off the ground.....I've heard this!
When this movie was being made, I heard a bunch of strange sounds one morning, airplane sounds. I grabbed the video camera ( which I always kept ready in those days) and went outside. The noise was from was a big formation of WW II fighters flying over our house. I called Chino and they said it was for a movie. It turned out to be this one! The airplanes were flying out over the coast where they could do their movie magic. I've never seen it, but I have gathered that it wasn't exactly the best film ever made! But I did have that one great morning with a sky full of fighters!
Robert Karr
OLD BIRDS STAYING ALIVE - THE AVIATION ART OF ROBERT KARR

[Kosh]

Thanks Bob! To be honest, if the guy(s) operating a P-38 find the turbos too difficult operate and maintain, I´d recommend them to stick to ultralights. Considering that very few problems with the turbos themselves are reported in wartime reports, I find such an excuse intolerable. Besides, the P-38 does not generate full power, even at sea level, without the turbos. The B-17 does too require operating turbos to get full power. Operative turbos also reduce cruising fuel consumption.

Overall, based on great many warbird pilot reports, especially in the late Warbirds Worldwide journal, it is sad but true that a great many warbird pilots/owners have no clue how to properly operate their birds. A typical fu**-up is to use way too high rpm with way too low boost for cruising resulting in substantially increased fuel consumption. Nearly all warbird accidents also result from the poor understanding of them.

[Barrett]

The best review I've seen of the entire Iron Eagle series:
"Not stupid, just dumb."

[Bruno Stachel]

They lost me at Iron Eagle I, when the kid flew an F-16 while listening to his walkman.