Acrostar Mini Jet
This
fabulous one-man jet was designed, built and flown by stunt pilot 'Corkey' Fornof.
The Acrostar Mini Jet (also known as the the Bede Jet) is capable of flying
at over 300mph. Its power is supllied by a single jet engine, a micro-turbo
TRS-18 and it is the world's smallest jet plane. The one concession to artistic
licence in the film is the plane's retractable wings - needed to enable Bond
to hide the Acrostar behind a phoney horse's rear end in a trailer. In the spectacularly
exciting pre-credits sequence (one of the best of the series), Bond uses the
jet to escape his enemies. However, it looks like curtains when he can't shake
off a heat-seeking missile. He daringly races through an airline hangar as the
villains try to close the door and trap him. The Acrostar makes it through by
inches but the missile doesn't. Thus, the bad guys are destroyed in the resulting
explosion. The sequence was achieved by using full-scale replicas, the real
jet and miniatures - each of which is indistinguishable from the other (a testimony
to the professionalism of the technicians and special-effects department). Two
of the replicas are on display at Planet Hollywood and restaurants in Las Vegas
and Dublin.
Other Vehicles in Octopussy