The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff movie poster.

Movie (1983)

Starring:
Sam Shepard (Chuck Yeager)
Ed Harris (John Glenn)
Dennis Quaid (Gordon Cooper)
Scott Glenn (Alan Shepard)
Fred Ward (Virgil "Gus" Grissom)

(Synopsis needed)

Bell X-1 (Replica)

The first aircraft to break the sound barrier, flown by Chuck Yeager. This replica is now on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Boeing B-29A-60-BN Superfortress

The famed CAF B-29 "FiFi", registration N529B, s/n 44-62070 acted as s/n 45-21800, a Boeing B-29-96-BW Superfortress dedicated to carry Bell X-1 and X-1A.
Same aircraft in other work at IMPDb: Frequently Seen Aircraft (Military Fixed-Wing).

Boeing EB-50A Superfortress

The B-29 mothership is too figured by this archive footage of a later Boeing B-50 Superfortress; a scene taken from Jet Pilot - look at IMPDb: Frequently Seen Aircraft.

Bell X-1A

Yeager achieves a new speed record of Mach 2 in this.

Lockheed F-104G Starfighter

At the end of the film, Yeager goes for a new speed record in this. The actual plane flown by Yeager in real life was an NF-104A. Three demilitarized versions with an additional 6,000 lbf (27 kN) Rocketdyne LR121/AR-2-NA-1 rocket engine, used for astronaut training at altitudes up to 120,800 ft (36,820 m).

Hawker Hunter

After Yeager's Bell X-1 flights, Scott Crossfield sets a new record in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket (represented in this film by a modified Hawker Hunter).

Beechcraft T-34 Mentor

Beechcraft T-34 Mentor.

Douglas A-4M Skyhawk

In the scene where Alan Shepard is introduced, we see him landing this on an aircraft carrier (the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43)), in an A-4M masquerading as an earlier A4D-2.

Douglas A-4M, BuNo 160245.

Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II

On the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), we see several A-7 Corsair IIs (inaccurate for this time period) probably masquerading as Vought F8U Crusaders, which they slightly resemble.

Grumman C-1 Trader

On the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43).

The plane with the folded wings, furthest right

Northrop T-38 Talon

Pilot patches from Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB

Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King

This retrieves Alan Shepard after he re-enters Earth's atmosphere in his capsule.

Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw

Look how the Choctaw is finely reproducing the real Sikorsky HUS-1 Seahorse seen in When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (last three picture of the section).