Fokker D.VII Moviestars
Fokker D.VII’s have appeared in a number movies. In the time between the wars, a number of original D.VII’s were used in movies like ‘Wings’ and ‘Hell’s Angels’. After the Second World War, a number of movies were shot using flying Fokker D.VII replica’s. These replica’s were originaly build for ‘The Blue Max’, but were used in a number of other movies like ‘Von Richthofen and Brown’.
Info on this page comes from Marshall Cram’s Military Aviation Movie List
Wings (1927)
WWI- Richard Arlen (ex RFC, future USAAF); American WWI buddies go to France. One of the greatest aviation epics. Used over 300 pilots, mostly US Army. Many (220+) USAAC planes, with at least one of their pilots being killed. Shot at Kelly and Brooks Fields, and Camp Stanley, Texas in 1926. Types used include Spad VII (2 w/o in staged crashes), Fokker D.VII (2 w/o in staged crashes) 2 MB-3’s were also deliberately crashed. Units included the DH.4’s of 90 BS. SE.5’s, Thomas Morse MB.3 Scouts of 43 PS, DH.4 and MB.2’s of 11 BS, Curtiss P-1 Hawk of 17 PS, 27 PS, 94 PS, 95 PS, of the 1 PG, and Vought VE-7’s from Langley. Thomas-Morse MB.3 and DH.4 camera planes from Crissy Field, Curtiss NBS-1 camera plane. USAAC balloons. Written by F.J Saunders (ex-WWI pilot), directed by William Wellman (ex SPAD pilot) Actor Buddy Rogers became a USN test pilot in WWII.
Flight Commander (1930)
WWI- Douglas Fairbanks; WWI epic. Nieuport 28’s., Travel Airs (‘Nieuports’), Fokker D.VII’s, 2 Pfalz D.XII’s, Standard J-1. Directed by Howard Hawks (WWI pilot). (This was originally ‘Dawn Patrol’. It was retitled after the the second version came out in 1938)
Hell's Angels (1930)
WWI- B.Lyon; Howard Hughes made this epic about 2 Americans who join the RFC. Made with up to 87 biplanes and 80 pilots (including Roscoe Turner), although some reports say no more than about 40 aircraft at one time. Types included 5 Thomas-Morse Scouts S4.C (as ‘Camels’), 3+ SE.5, Sikorsky S-29 (‘Gotha’), this crashed killing a stuntman) 8 Fokker D.VII, 2 Jennies (‘Avro 504’) Snipes?, Camels? DH.4. Many Travelair 2000/4000’s (‘Fokker’) Many crashes both planned and accidental, 3 of them were fatal. DH.4, Travelair camera plane. Models. Filmed at several 1920’s Los Angeles Fields- Caddo (Van Nuys), Inglewood, Chatsworth, Riverside, Encino, Santa Cruz, Glendale and Oakland in the San Francisco area.
Here you can see some stills from the movie.
Eagle and the Hawk (1933)
WWI- C. Grant; 2 WWI fliers dislike each other, one has a breakdown. DH-9, Curtiss P-1 Hawk (‘Fokker’), ‘Wings’, ‘Lilac Time’, ‘Dawn Patrol’ footage. Static Nieuport 28’s. Written by J.M. Saunders, ex WWI pilot.
Crimson Romance (1934)
WWI- E.V. Stroheim: S.E.5, Fokker D.VII and footage from ‘Hell’s Angels’.
Suzy (1936)
WWI- Cary Grant; usual love triangle. Filmed in Triunfo Canyon, California with SE.5, 6 Thomas-Morse S.4C Scouts, Nieuport 28’s, Fokker D.VII, also Hell's Angels footage, Earl Populaire.
Dawn Patrol (1938)
WWI- D. Niven; The classic WWI aviation epic. Remake of the 1930 Dawn Patrol, which was then retitled ‘Flight Commander’. Much, if not most, of the stunt footage was re-used. Nieuport 28’s, Travelair 4000’s (‘Fokker’), Thomas-Morse S.4C, and Pfalz D.XII, all mainly on the ground. Two staged crashes by Frank Clarke. Directed by Howard Hawks, written by J.M Saunders, both previously WWI pilots.
Men with wings (1938)
USAAC- Ray Milland (future USAAF Flight instructor); Story of two rival fliers from 1903 to 1938. Original colour (a first for aviation movies). Made with Buhl Pup, 3+ DH.4’s 2 Garland Lincoln LF-1’s(Nieuport replica), Boeing 247’s (‘bombers’), Boeing P-12’s. Nieuport 28C.1, SPAD VII. Also a Whitehead replica, 1910 Curtiss pusher replica, 6 Travelair (‘Fokker’s’), Fokker D.VII (burnt!), Mantz Stearman C-3, 2 Boeing 100’s, NA.50 and several Jennies. Camera planes were the Mantz Stearman C-3 and Lockheed Sirus. Apparently it was filmed around Van Nuys, California. Directed by ex-WWI SPAD pilot William Wellman.
The Blue Max (1968)
WWI- George Peppard; modern WWI drama. Great biplane footage. Replica Pfaltz D.III, Moraine 230 (reserve plane). Albatross DII, 2 SE.5A replicas, Caudron 272 Fokker Dr.I replica, 3 Fokker D.VII replicas Triplanes Tiger Moths (‘Fokkers’).
Darling Lilly (1970)
WWI- Rock Hudson (ex USN); Spoof of WWI spy/biplane movies. Shot with the Blue Max replicas, including Fokker Dr.1 Replica, Fokker D.VII Replicas, and an SE.5 replica in the background.
Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
WWI- John Philp Law; Shot with the Blue Max replicas, including a D.VII, and an original (?) Fokker Dr.1.
In the UK the title of this movie was “The Red Baron”.
Aces High (1976)
WWI- M.McDowell; RAF. Remake of ‘Journey’s End’, but set in the air. Anti-war slant on dissillusioned WWI pilots. Fokker D.VII replicas. E.III Eindekker. Cameo by Ray Milland, (ex USAAF).
The Aviator (2004)
The story of Howard Hughes with Fokker D.VII replica’s during shooting of Hell’s Angels.
