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Flying Wing

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"That must be a Flying Wing. It's a new kind of cargo plane. Looks fast."
―Indiana Jones[src]

The German-built Flying Wing was a prototype cargo plane employed by Nazi Germany during the late 1930s.

History[]

Creation[]

The Flying Wing was a new kind of aircraft[3] whose prototypes[4] were designed in the utmost secrecy for[1] Luftwaffe Command.[2] Their experimental shape had a forward cockpit for the pilot and a tail gunner position[5] and were configured for cargo transport, acpable of also being outfitted as a fighter-bomber capable of striking targets throughout Europe.[1] American archaeologist Indiana Jones had heard that the Nazis had been working on the development of such a configuration, but had no idea that any had gone into production.[6]

Tanis Dig[]

Flying Wing explosive

Destruction of the Flying Wing.

One of these prototypes[4] was sent to Tanis, Cairo Egypt after the Ark of the Covenant was recovered in 1936.[7] Its unique design and large fuel tanks allowed it to travel immense distances without landing to refuel, freeing it from the logistical constraints of other transport aircraft.[1] Colonel Herman Dietrich planned to transport the treasure back to Germany in the plane, so the craft was prepared for takeoff. However, Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood inadvertently destroyed the plane[5] and its airfield[8] in an attempt to commandeer it, killing one of aircraft's mechanics and its pilot. With the plane destroyed and Jones on the loose, Dietrich and French mercenary René Emile Belloq decided to move the Ark by truck from the camp instead,[5] leaving the Flying Wing's smouldering ruins with still smoking wreckage behind.[6] Belloq noted the loss of the plane in his diary.[8]

Search at Giza[]

Another Flying Wing was employed by the Nazis in 1937 during the search of the Great Circle, as one of such exemplars was present at the airfield of the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection agent Emmerich Voss' dig site in Giza, Egypt.[9]

Legacy[]

On August 19, 1969, a visiting Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir told his grandchildren Jabari and Alia about Indy's and Ravenwood's experience with the Flying Wing as they entered into Indy's apartment at 1152 Rivington Street, Manhattan, New York City accompanied by Ravenwood after being contacted by Helena Shaw and Teddy Kumar following their time traveling experience with Jones in Syracuse, Italy.[10]

Description[]

The German Flying Wing had a wingspan of 19 meters, could reach 550 km/h and was equipped with two 30mm MK 108 machine cannons and twin MG15 machine guns.[1] A strange-looking plane adorned with Nazi swastikas, it essentially consisted of a large fixed wing without tail section or a fuselage. Its front had a cockpit with a glass canopy that offered maximum visibility to the pilot. Opposite to it, there was a glass-domed gun turret positioned at the wing's aft area between its two large propellers.[6]

Behind the scenes[]

The Nazi Flying Wing seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark was not a real plane.[5] Production designer Norman Reynolds designed the plane for the film, based on historical Northrop Corporation designs and drawings by the late Ron Cobb of the Horten Ho 229. However, it more closely resembles the Lippisch Li P.04-106, a concept fighter studied by Germany toward the end of World War II.

The Flying Wing was built by Vickers, and painted in London at EMI Elstree Studios. In order to ship the unwieldy prop to Tunisia, it had to be disassembled and sent piecemeal before being reconstructed on location.[11]

While filming the fight sequence between Indiana Jones and the German Mechanic with Pat Roach, Harrison Ford was accidentally run over by the landing gear and tore the ACL in one of his knees.[12]

When Marion Ravenwood gets locked in the cockpit of the Flying Wing after knocking out the pilot during Indy's fight against the mechanic, the Raiders film crew can be seen reflected in the glass.[5]

18501020

Note: Scaled down and missing gun turret from back, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!.

Kenner planned to release a Flying Wing as part of their 3 3/4" Raiders toyline but went unmade.[13] At some point during the 1990s, a Raiders playset prototype was presented to the Galoob Micro Machines company with the hope of turning it into an actual set. It represented two sections from the film, Peru and Egypt, with the Flying Wing present in the latter. The set, however, did not get approval and went unproduced.[14] Hasbro had also planned to release a Flying Wing for their 3 3/4" action figure line in 2009.[15] While the model for the Flying Wing toy was finished, the cancellation of the line, however, came about before a Flying Wing action set could be sold.[16]

After the Flying Wing, along the tank fuel truck, was destroyed in the film in 1981, the remains of the plane sat quietly in the Tunisian desert, where parts of it were salvaged by prop collectors. In 1991, almost ten years after the production of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Flying Wing was finally bulldozed and its remains destroyed.[17]

Continuity[]

The Flying Wing cameos in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as Emmerich Voss' zeppelin lands in Giza, likely as an easter egg[9] (as in the case of the Grail Temple in Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings).[18]

Appearances[]

Non-canonical appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Titanium Series (Pack: German Flying Wing)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook
  3. ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark Storybook
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide indicates that the Flying Wing was a prototype while later Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showed the existence of another Flying Wing, indicating that more than one plane was built.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Raiders of the Lost Ark
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark junior novel
  7. ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Greatest Adventures of Indiana Jones
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  10. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
  11. ↑ IndyGear Props Section: Planes in the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Harrison Ford AMA at Reddit
  13. ↑ UNPRODUCED GERMAN FLYING WING PLANE at Raiders of the Lost Toys (Web archive)
  14. ↑ -Unreleased Products- at THROW ME THE IDOL (Web archive)
  15. ↑ Cool Toy Review
  16. ↑ New Hasbro Feb. 2009 Q&A Session! at Indiana Jones Collectors
  17. ↑ Tunisia Trip - Locations from the Star Wars films and Raiders of the Lost Ark. on Facebook
  18. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
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