Photo: USAF/Staff Sgt. Wesley Jones
When the first iteration of the franchise (let’s call it that) came out in 1996, “Independence Day“ was the coolest thing many of us had ever seen on the big screen. It had, in no particular order, city-wide alien ships descending on our planet, Will Smith, huge aerial battles that involved the hundreds of the airplanes of our world flying at the same time, and perhaps the greatest speech ever written for a movie, or for anything, for that matter.
For many, it was the planes that captured the imagination, as they flew in formation to take on the aggressive, unknown and little understood alien force. The epic scenes showing the battle over Los Angeles, with scores of McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets moving in for the kill, will probably forever be imprinted in the minds of moviegoers.
The Hornets were not the only military aircraft shown in Independence Day. We also got F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, or F-22 Raptors. Most of the time, what we saw were not actually planes, but either digital renderings, models or larger-scale mockups.
And, ironically, although these aerial battles form the movie’s most spectacular scenes, the official posters for Independence Day had no airplanes, but mostly the alien ships firing their weapons at our cities.
The main photo of this piece shows actual F-15 Eagles, six of them, flying formation over the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. They belong to the Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Wing, and we’re on a refueling mission at the end of March, when this pic was snapped.
Released last week by the USAF, the photo immediately brought to mind scenes from Independence Day and got us thinking how cool these things would have looked on a poster for the movie, accompanied by all the embellishments of such works of art.
The Hornets were not the only military aircraft shown in Independence Day. We also got F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, or F-22 Raptors. Most of the time, what we saw were not actually planes, but either digital renderings, models or larger-scale mockups.
And, ironically, although these aerial battles form the movie’s most spectacular scenes, the official posters for Independence Day had no airplanes, but mostly the alien ships firing their weapons at our cities.
The main photo of this piece shows actual F-15 Eagles, six of them, flying formation over the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. They belong to the Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Wing, and we’re on a refueling mission at the end of March, when this pic was snapped.
Released last week by the USAF, the photo immediately brought to mind scenes from Independence Day and got us thinking how cool these things would have looked on a poster for the movie, accompanied by all the embellishments of such works of art.
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