Ferris Aircraft X-97 UCAV jets

[Nitrobot]

 

[Nitrobot]

 

[Nitrobot]

The precursor to Ferris's pilotless X-97 UCAv was their infamous high performance figher jet from the early 1990s, the YF-32, piloted by Hal's father, Martin Jordan. The jet that ultimately took the life of Hal's father in the filme also needed to be designed and built. "I based the shape of the YF-32 on planes like the F-20 Tigershark, the early F-18 Hornet, and a few other odd birds that DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) was playing around with back then. Overall, it might seem a bit convencional until you see the tail. Instead of the tradicional vertical fin, we created an early vesion of what is called Pelican tail, or the two angled rear stabilizers. That would have been considered very advanced for the mid-to-late-1980s", says Paul Ozzimo.

Below an F-20:

There were three YF-32s built for the filme, two full full-sized planes and one cockpit section used for certain inserts, as well as close-ups of actor Jon Tenney who portrays the elder Jordan. The production purchased two decommissioned F-5 Tiger jets (minus the engines) and Strahlendorf converted them into Ozzimo's YF-32 design with Mark Visconti and Charlie Zurian at Visconti Engineering in California. "When I was five years old, I had family working at Northrop in Hawthorne, California, and was invited to see the rollout and flight of the F-5. To be able to help turn that very plane into an experimental fighter of my own for the movie was pretty cool", says Ozzimo.

Below an F-5:

The two full-scale planes arrived from California in pieces and were assembled at Lakefront Airport. One was retrofitted with a cable line and towed down the airport tarmac up to sixty miles per hour with a stunt man sitting in the cockpit in place of Tenney. The other "post-crash" plane was rigged by the film's special effects department for the fiery explosion.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Pretty cool planes.

 

[Nitrobot]

NEW picture of Ferris Aircraft prototype name YF-32 plioted by Martin Jordan:

 

[KalMart]

Kinda' looks like the Joint Strike Fighter with some wing modifications.

 

[Nitrobot]

Kinda' looks like the Joint Strike Fighter with some wing modifications.

There were three YF-32s built for the filme, two full full-sized planes and one cockpit section used for certain inserts, as well as close-ups of actor Jon Tenney who portrays the elder Jordan. The production purchased two decommissioned F-5 Tiger jets (minus the engines) and Strahlendorf converted them into Ozzimo's YF-32 design with Mark Visconti and Charlie Zurian at Visconti Engineering in California.

BELOW F-35 JSF like those piloted by Harold Jordan and Carol Ferris: