# General Aviation aircraft in old horror films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567 "2013-08-18T16:57:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/1 "2013-08-18T16:57:39Z")
I’ve just put on _The Beast Of Yucca Flats_ (1961), and during the titles a Stinson 108 delivers Tor Johnson to a secret meeting. A Cessna 170A marked ‘New Mexico State Police’ is on a search mission at the beginning of _Them!_ (1954), and a Cessna 170B appears in 1955’s _Tarantula_. Unfortunately, the Internet Movie Plane Database is not entirely comprehensive. What are some other 1950s/early-1960s horror films that feature General Aviation aircraft, especially when they appear at the beginning? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/2 "2013-08-18T17:23:11Z")
There’s another Coleman Francis movie called The Skydivers, also barely tolerable even in MST3K form, which featured Cessnas I think. I’m not sure it qualifies as horror, but it’s a bit hard to categorize Coleman Francis films as any particular genre other than, “my god, somebody take the camera away from Coleman f-ing Francis!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/3 "2013-08-18T17:33:35Z")
_The Beast Of Yucca Flats_ also has a Cessna 182, which I’ve heard is the same plane used in _The Skydivers_. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/4 "2013-08-18T17:57:02Z")
Does the cropduster in North by Northwest count? **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/5 "2013-08-18T18:04:16Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > Does the cropduster in North by Northwest count? Not really a ‘General Aviation aircraft’ in the spirit of this thread. I mean, it _is_ a GA aircraft, but so is a Gulfstream V; if you see what I mean. What I’m looking for are airplanes with two to four (or perhaps six) seats that are intended for personal transportation. Examples: Cessna 120/140, 150, 170, 172, 180, 182; Stinson 108, Reliant; Luscombe; Beechcraft Bonanza; Piper Cub, Super Cub, Cherokee; and so on. I originally wanted to specify ‘B-grade’ horror films, but that would have only started an argument over what ‘B-grade’ is and isn’t. But in any case, _North By Northwest_ isn’t a horror film. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/6 "2013-08-18T18:44:51Z")
Sorry I seemed to miss the Horror part of the OP **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/7 "2013-08-18T19:09:21Z")
There was a very unconvincing autogyro in Hitchcock’s otherwise-very-good _The 39 Steps_ (1935). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/8 "2013-08-18T20:21:41Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _The 39 Steps_ (1935). > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > What are some other 1950s/early-1960s horror films that feature General Aviation aircraft 😉 I have not seen _The Deadly Mantis_ (1957), but it seeps to have a [Cessna 195](http://www.impdb.org/images/4/4a/Deadlymantis3.jpg) in it. There’s a [Beechcraft](http://impdb.org/images/3/34/Donovan-02.jpg) [Bonanza](http://impdb.org/images/d/dd/Donovan-03.jpg) in _Donovan’s Brain_ (1953). Haven’t seen that one either. Sounds like a disembodied brain that possesses people. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/9 "2013-08-18T20:56:00Z")
Does the 1953 version of War of the Worlds count as horror? The main characters escape in a Stinson L-5 about 20 minutes in. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/10 "2013-08-18T20:58:31Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Does the 1953 version of War of the Worlds count as horror? The main characters escape in a Stinson L-5 about 20 minutes in. See, that’s why I wanted to avoid ‘B-grade’. _War Of The Worlds_ was not a B-film, but it does fit. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/11 "2013-08-18T21:05:41Z")
[The Cyclops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cyclops_%28film%29) is firmly in the B camp and features Lon Chaney trying to crash a Stinson Voyager. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-aircraft-in-old-horror-films/666567/12 "2013-08-18T21:51:44Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > [The Cyclops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cyclops_%28film%29) is firmly in the B camp and features Lon Chaney trying to crash a Stinson Voyager. Sweet! [Here are some pics](http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=The_Cyclops). That Stinson, a 1948 Model 108-3, N6647M, was lost in a crash in 2001 (injuries: 1 serious, 1 minor). The probable cause was ‘A baffling failure within the exhaust system.’ (Amusingly worded, but it was the failure of the muffler baffling.)