The Navy only authorised two actual missile shots to be filmed for the film. You can clearly pick out these two shots, ultimately shot from several angles each in order to use both shots repeatedly during the dogfighting scenes, because the aircraft firing the missile is holding a steady altitude and heading, something that would never happen in a real close-in dogfight. All other missile shots shown in the film were conducted using miniatures of both the planes and rockets. The company that produced and fired the model missiles did such a good job that the Department of the Navy conducted a preliminary investigation into whether any additional live firings of missiles, beyond the two originally authorised, were done for the filmmakers.

Film

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