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Topic starter
13/12/2024 5:27 pm
As a kid, there some movie props that I thought were so cool I had to make models of them. It took meover a half a century to finally make a model of that 'steam punk' "Nautilus" submarine from Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". In the background is Disney's Willy Ley's 4 stage XR-1 rocket from a 'Tomorrow Land' episode. And the Martian Cobra war machine from the 1953 "War of the Worlds". I first saw that movie when I was 7 and the plot and special effects just blew me away. If you have never seen it, here's a clip:
Topic starter
13/12/2024 6:01 pm
And not to forget the ships of Flash Gordon, Emperor Ming the Merciless and Commander Cody:
13/12/2024 6:17 pm
1953 "War of the Worlds". I first saw that movie when I was 7 and the plot and special effects just blew me away. If you have never seen it, here's a clip:
OMG! that was the first movie I ever saw, at the Roxy Theatre (now long gone) in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham. I would have been about the same age as you Rich.
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/52849/photos/296161
I was hooked on movies from that very first film. Started managing cinemas in the early 70s then to live theatres late 70s. And with a couple of breaks here and there my occupation until I retired about 3 years ago.
Fantastic, thanks Rich.
13/12/2024 6:32 pm
I always thought the 1953 version of H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" with Gene Barry was great ! The YB-49 makes an appearance in the film ..... although the atom bomb it is carrying doesn't work on the Martian tripod machines.
I used to always watch the Flash Gordon serials on Sunday mornings, too.
Topic starter
13/12/2024 8:53 pm
@michaeldetorrice Yeah, I really dug the file footage of the YB-49 in the movie. It was the most futuristic and intimidating strategic bomber at the time... that never went into production. without all the computer actuated control surfaces of the half century later B-2, it just wasn't a stable platform.
13/12/2024 11:44 pm
I had heard that the six-jet (as opposed to the 8-jet) YRB49A with two of the engines external and on pylons and also tested would have been more stable and a possible way to go. I understood the XB-49 had a wingspan of 132 feet ...... and the modern B-2 had a wingspan of 132 feet !
I also heard that a very old and very sick Jack Northrop was given a special clearance and taken to a secret hanger in Palmdale CA and taken in his wheelchair to see the full-size mockup of America's next strategic bomber ... the B-2 Stealth Bomber. He was in tears and reportedly said, "Now I known why God has kept me alive this long ... ."
