Could the GMR CMs actually be right about the Casablanca plane?!?

**doconeill** · 01-09-2011, 07:04 PM

This might be of interest to Lou...

So, it's long been debunked that the plane (well, the front half, they cut it in half to fit it in the ride, the back half is in the Jungle Cruise) used in the Casablanca scene in the Great Movie Ride could not have the real plane in the scene - because no real plane was used in the scene.

But could the plane have actually appeared in the movie? It appears that the answer has now changed from a No to a solid "Maybe". Werner Weiss (of Yesterland.com) and Disney historian Jim Korkis got together to look a lot more closely at the myth.

It turns out that although in the penultimate scene there was a scale mockup plane, there is in fact a scene of a Lockheed Electra taking off from what is now Van Nuys airport. And it was found in a book that they did indeed get permission to film a night shot of a plane taking off (the area was under nightly blackout restrictions due to fears of a coastal attack from Japan).

So, given that there WAS an actual Lockheed Electra in the movie, and the plane in the GMR ride did indeed belong to WB at the time, it actually could be the plane in the movie, and the CMs may not have been wrong all this time...

**NC_WDW_Daddy** · 01-09-2011, 07:40 PM

If they still have the aircraft buno numbers and logbooks, they might be able to see if it was the airplane from the movies.

**WDW Donna** · 01-09-2011, 08:32 PM

Wouldn't it be something if the plane in the GMR really turned out to be the same one in the movie!! I think that is incredible.

**TXTaylors5** · 07-08-2011, 08:04 PM

If it is the real plane from the movie, it's a shame they cut it in half . . .

**WDW1014** · 07-09-2011, 09:20 AM

i need to see this movie i guess

**supernova** · 07-11-2011, 08:45 AM

Don't blame the cast members. Blame the writers.

**JNota0005DakMC** · 07-12-2011, 06:06 PM

I agree that if this in fact was from the film... It's a shame they chopped it in half... Did the Jungle Cruise really need the rear end of a plane in it anyway...?

**albino_pygmy** · 07-12-2011, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by JNota0005DakMC

I agree that if this in fact was from the film... It's a shame they chopped it in half... Did the Jungle Cruise really need the rear end of a plane in it anyway...?

Yes, yes we did. Because there's no better segue into anti-aircraft hippo pool than half a wrecked plane.

**JNota0005DakMC** · 07-13-2011, 06:38 AM

Ok you got me onthat one...

**Keasmom** · 07-27-2011, 11:50 PM

Originally Posted by doconeill

This might be of interest to Lou...

So, it's long been debunked that the plane (well, the front half, they cut it in half to fit it in the ride, the back half is in the Jungle Cruise) used in the Casablanca scene in the Great Movie Ride could not have the real plane in the scene - because no real plane was used in the scene.

But could the plane have actually appeared in the movie? It appears that the answer has now changed from a No to a solid "Maybe". Werner Weiss (of Yesterland.com) and Disney historian Jim Korkis got together to look a lot more closely at the myth.

It turns out that although in the penultimate scene there was a scale mockup plane, there is in fact a scene of a Lockheed Electra taking off from what is now Van Nuys airport. And it was found in a book that they did indeed get permission to film a night shot of a plane taking off (the area was under nightly blackout restrictions due to fears of a coastal attack from Japan).

So, given that there WAS an actual Lockheed Electra in the movie, and the plane in the GMR ride did indeed belong to WB at the time, it actually could be the plane in the movie, and the CMs may not have been wrong all this time...

That is very cool information.

Originally Posted by WDW1014

i need to see this movie i guess

It is a true classic, worth the watching, once. But a member here has posted that she is going to watch every featured fil in GMR.

Originally Posted by JNota0005DakMC

I agree that if this in fact was from the film... It's a shame they chopped it in half... Did the Jungle Cruise really need the rear end of a plane in it anyway...?

Well, I was guessing that at the time, they never expected DL to do as well as it did, much less become an obsessive, lifelong, trivia fueled, quest for people 40 plus years later.