Behind the scenes great efforts

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2001)

Just saw the movie today and enjoyed it. The special effects were a little over done and seemed like a video game in some scenes. However, I hangar with several of the Tora pilots from the Houston area that had their Jap replica aircraft barged to Pearl Harbor, and later flown to the Lexington and the Battle ship Texas. Will Bonefas who at 67 years of age, had his Val replica repainted in a wax based paint to resemble the silver and black color scheme of the attacking aircraft. Flying for 6 or 7 weeks took place at Pearl and also included Steve Hinton flying the P40. One of the replicas actually crashed while filming. The 72 year old pilot was shakened but survived! Later, Will flew to Corpus Christi Texas to a repainted carrier Lexington that was turned into a jap carrier and the later into the Hornet. There was some veteran opposition due to this carrier flying the Jap flag. The B25 and tora planes were actually launched off the static carrier. A final set was flown at the battleship Texas which was also repainted to resemble the Arizona and the Iowa. These aircraft were modified in 1969 for the film Tora Tora Tora and were WW2 AT6 advanced trainers and BT13 trainers with extended fuselages and modified tail feathers. Very few enemy aircraft exist today. Take time when the movie concludes and observe all of the credits. It is amazing how many fine folks participated in this movie. And of course, take a look at the pilot credits. These type of details help the realism and probably add to the 140 million price tag. And what would the rest of us pilots give to fly in this movie?