James Bond fever is setting in. Oct. 5 marked the 50th anniversary of the movie franchise, and Bond fans are counting down to the premiere of Skyfall, the newest addition to the 007 collection. The movie opens Nov. 9 in the U.S.
The James Bond series has so many iconic features: gorgeous Bond girls, Aston Martins, shaken Martinis, imaginative gadgets, and, of course, sweet jets!
In 2008, the Smithsonian’s Air and Space magazine reviewed all of the aircraft in the until-then 22 Bond movies. They came up with more than 150 both real and fictional aircraft. That’s about six per movie! (This list does include Connery’s experimental jet pack from 1965’s Thunderball.)
The aircraft in 007 movies generally have some noteworthy characteristic:
- Goldfinger’s private jet, a Lockheed JetStar, in Goldfinger had peepholes into the lavatory so the crew could keep tabs on the occupant.
- Bond flew in the world’s smallest jet, the Bede BD-5J in Octopussy.
- In Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig as James Bond flies to Austria in a Bombardier Challenger 605.This jet was owned by Ocean Sky, and its involvement in the film was valued around €600,000.
Hopefully, Skyfall will feature some scintillating scenes in the air. In the trailer, I saw a helicopter, trains, motorcycles, sailboat, and a beautiful Aston Martin DB5. With a name like Skyfall, we can only assume some cutting-edge aircraft will appear. However, if Bond starts drinking Heineken instead of Martinis, anything is possible.