Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade marks the third entry into the franchise that began with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Released in 1989, the film would focus on the strained relationship between Indiana Jones (played once again by Harrison Ford) and his father Henry Jones Sr (played by Sean Connery). Set in 1938, the story follows Indiana’s quest to rescue his father, a Holy Grail scholar kidnapped by the Nazi’s to aid their search for the Grail. Steven Spielberg, having signed on for three movies when signing on for Raiders, would also return to direct. The film was highly successful earning over $479 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film of 1989. It would also go on to win the Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing at the 62nd Academy Awards. The Last Crusade features several aircraft and includes one of the best aerial sequences in the entire franchise. The sequence involves a Zeppelin, a Stampe et Vertongen SV.4 and a Pilatus P-2. This article explores the history of these three types and their role in the film.
The Zeppelin:
To begin, let us focus on the Zeppelin, the first aircraft seen in this chase sequence. After freeing his father from the German’s and a quick detour through Berlin, Indy, and his father attempt to make their getaway from Germany by boarding a Zeppelin.
Zeppelins, a type of rigid airship, were originally invented by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Count von Zeppelin had fought in the American civil war becoming interested in balloons. Following his retirement in 1891 he began work on designing his own airship and by 1899 he had begun construction on his first Zeppelin, LZ1. LZ1 was a 128-meter-long structure powered by two 14.2hp Daimler engines and on the 2nd of July 1900 it made its maiden flight. Taking off from a floating hangar located on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, the flight lasted all of 20minutes, before it ended with a crash landing. LZ1 would be repaired and flown another two times.
By 1909, Zeppelins began to be used for passenger flights, offering a luxurious standard of travel. With the outbreak of World War 1 the Zeppelin would be quickly weaponised with both the German navy and the German army would utilize them for a variety of roles from reconnaissance to bombing platforms. The British and French were clearly aware of the threat of the Zeppelin as zeppelin sheds were a target of bombing raids from the beginning of the war. Perhaps the most infamous use of the Zeppelin, was its use in conducting bombing raids of the U.K. The first raid occurred on Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in January 1915 and at the end of May London was targeted for the first time. For much of 1915 the Zeppelins were nearly invincible over Britain and It would not be until mid-1916 when improved anti-aircraft technology became available were the British able to start to oppose the Zeppelin raids. Very quickly did the Zeppelin become a military liability.
After World War 1, the Zeppelin would quickly transition back into civilian use and the 1920s and into the 1930s, would be the Zeppelins hay day, becoming the status for long distance travel. It offered luxurious travel that could cover vast distances much quicker than what cruise ships could. In 1928 the Graf Zeppelin was launched, one of the finest Zeppelins to be created. It would make headlines when during 1929 it departed on a successful around the world flight in 21 days. However, this era would come to an abrupt and tragic end on May 7, 1937, with the Hindenburg disaster. On May 7th, 1937. The Hindenburg, the world’s largest dirigible airship, was coming into land at Lakehurst New Jersey when the airship burst into flames. Of the ninety-seven people on board, tragically thirteen passengers, twenty-two crew and one person on the ground were killed. The Hindenburg disaster would become one of the most famous aviation disasters in history and would mark the end of the Zeppelin. The Hindenburg’s sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin was dismantled shortly thereafter, following a career that saw it make 590 flights.
Zeppelins in the Last Crusade:
The Last Crusade features a fictitious Zeppelin, registered D-138 and having attachment points for fighter aircraft. This is an inaccurate detail as no Zeppelin built in Germany was ever designed to carry other aircraft, although the U.S did trial it on their rigid airships. Additionally, the film depicts the Zeppelin leaving Berlin, something that never did occur in real life. Zeppelin's departing Germany either left from Friedrichshafen or Frankfurt. For the film, much of the Zeppelin shots were achieved with an eight-foot model of the airship against a blue screen that was later composited together with a sky background plate. During the filming of some of the interior scenes within the Zeppelin both Sean Connery and Harrison Ford filmed wearing shorts, despite all the other passengers being dressed in fur coats. This was Connery’s idea as he tended to sweat a lot and as such decided that it would be too hot to wear pants. Harrison followed suit.
It is not long before Indy and his father are discovered and as a result the Zeppelin begins turning back to Berlin. It is here things start to become interesting, and quickly. As the Zeppelin turns around Indy decides to make a runner for it, and he finds his way into an aircraft attached to the Zeppelin. Henry Jones Snr jumps in and the two make their daring escape. As they fly away from the Zeppelin, they are quickly pursued by German fighter aircraft and a thrilling plane chase begins. For these sequences, Spielberg relied on a Stampe et Vertongen SV.4 for Indy and his father, and a Swiss trainer Pilatus P.2 for the two German fighters.
Stampe et Vertongen SV.4:
The Stampe et Vertongen SV.4 was a trainer sports aircraft designed by Stampe et Vertongen in the early 1930s. Jean Stampe and Maurice Vertongen had created the Stampe et Vertongen Company in 1923, based at Antwerp-Deurne, Belgium. Here it would quickly grow to become one of the biggest flying schools in Belgium, while also undertaking maintenance and ferrying of aircraft for the Belgium Air Force.
The SV.4 was designed by Georges Ivanoff, following a request from Jean Stampe for a twin seat training aircraft that had improved access to the front seat. Powered by a Gipsy Major 2 engine on the 17th of May 1933, the prototype made its maiden flight with none other than Jean Stampe at the controls. Production began but only six were produced before it came to a halt when in 1935 Ivanoff and Jean’s son Leon Stampe were killed in an air crash. A man by the name of Demidoff would take over design work of the SV.4 and in 1937 another two examples emerged, this time with two extra ailerons and a redesigned tail section. He would modify the design further, sweeping back both wings and in 1939 an order for 300 SV.4Bs came from the Belgian government. A second production line was set up at the Farman Company in France where it would be built under license. However, only the first batch of thirty examples had been completed when the Germany Army began their invasion of France and Belgium in May of 1940. Only a single example would survive the war, this being flown to England in a daring escape by two Belgium pilots on the 4th of July 1941.
Following the Second World War, as the French and Belgium began rebuilding their air forces the SV.4 was put back into production. In France license production was undertaken by SNCAN with these models becoming known as the SV.4C. It was equipped with the Renault 4Pei engine and production was also undertaken in Algeria. It is said that the SV.4Cs coming off the production line in Algeria were of higher quality than those coming out of France as they utilized a higher grade of both alloys and wood. The French military mainly used the SV.4C as primary trainers.
Jean Stampe alongside Alfred Renard formed Stampe and Renard Company in 1947 and together they would produce 65 SV.4Bs for use with the Belgium Air Force. Originally fitted with the Gipsy 10 engine, later versions would come equipped with Blackburn engines. They remained in service with the Belgium Air Force until the 1970s being used as glider tugs.
There was originally meant to be a second biplane attached to the Zeppelin. This would have been used by a Gestapo agent who was a World War 1 fighter ace to give chase to the pair. However, this idea was cut, and exterior shots of the Zeppelin only ever show one biplane attached. However, the second aircraft was left in the novelization and comic of the movie.
Pilatus P-2:
The Pilatus P-2 was devised as a new trainer for the Swiss Air Force in the early 1940s. Pilatus as a company was still relatively new, having only formed in 1939. Their first aircraft, known as the P.1, had failed to properly interest the government and as a result was never built. In 1942 they began work on their next design, a basic trainer, the P-2 which would take to the air for the first time on the 27th of April 1945.
The German fighters in this chase sequence were represented by the Swiss trainer, the Pilatus P-2. Spielberg had chosen this aircraft to stand in for a German fighter as it looked somewhat like German fighters of the late thirties, while also not being too fast to film.
The design of the P-2 dates back to the early 1940s. Pilatus as a company was still relatively new, having only formed in 1939. Their first aircraft, known as the P.1, had failed to properly interest the government and as a result was never built. In 1942 they began work on their next design, a basic trainer, the P-2 which would take to the air for the first time on the 27th of April 1945. The P-2 was designed to be built quickly and efficiently. As a result, it made use of the tailwheel, parts of the canopy and the main undercarriage and fairings from Me-109s of the Swiss Air Force that were beginning to be retired. The engine chosen was the Inverted V-12 Argus AS410-A2 that could produce 485 hp, although early on one example was trailed with a Hispano engine in case examples of the Argus engine could not be obtained from Czechoslovakia. By the time the P2 was in production in 1947, Argus engine supply was always sufficient and as such the need for the Hispano engine diminished.
The first order of 28 P2-05 began arriving at the Swiss Air Force in May 1947. The P2-05 was an unarmed trainer. This was followed by a second order of P2-06s, which had the addition of carrying a synchronized machine gun, and light bombs or rockets. Deliveries, totalling fifty-two aircraft, were completed by 1950. The P-2 remained in service with the Swiss Air Force for 30 years before finally being retired in 1981. At their conclusion of service, a number were scrapped before this was stopped with many of the remaining examples being sold to private owners.
For the sequence in the Last Crusade, a flying example was obtained. The P-2 used was loaned from Jacques Bourret who had purchased it straight from the Swiss Air Force, and it would be Bourret who flew the aircraft throughout the five weeks of filming that took place in Southern Spain throughout 1988. When shooting of the sequence finished a total of 21 hours of film material had been gathered. Today this particular P-2 is still owned and flown by Bourrett.
During the fight in the air, Indy and his father are forced to make a crash landing. However, the pursuit is not over, as the two jump into a car and the German fighters give chase. For the next few minutes of the film an intense car/plane chase takes place in which Indy and his father are able to just hold off the German fighters. The first German fighter is lost when in hot pursuit of the car, the pilot flies into a tunnel. The second is lost when Henry Jones Snr. has the great idea of whipping up all the seagulls on the beach into the flightpath of the plane causing the plane to crash.
Behind the Scenes:
An array of models and real aircraft were used to achieve the various shots in the entire flying sequence of action. Ford and Connery filmed their shots inside a full-scale mock-up of the biplane against a bluescreen. The tunnel sequence was reportedly a tricky sequence that utilized miniature models and sets alongside with blue screen shots and live-action pyrotechnics. Behind the scenes footage also shows what looks like a life scale mock-up, although this is not expanded on in any detail. For the scene with all the seagulls flying up into the aircraft, model seagulls and white doves were used as seagulls were not trainable.
This brings us to an end of this fun and exciting aerial chase sequence. Incidentally, it also marks the last time we see an aircraft in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I hope you have enjoyed this article and been able to learn something new about the aircraft utilized in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Comments