Iron Eagle is a 1986 action film about a teenage boy named Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) who steals an American F-16 fighter jet to rescue his father (Tim Thomerson), a prisoner of war being held in an unidentified rogue Middle Eastern country. The film also stars Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr. as Col. Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair and features the hit songs "One Vision" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" as part of its soundtrack. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Action movies usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. ... Jason Gedrick (b. ... The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States and used by dozens of countries all over the world. ... Tim Thomerson (b. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Louis Gossett Jr. ... One Vision is a song written and recorded by the band Queen, first released as a single in the 1985 and then included on their 1986 album A Kind Of Magic. ... Were Not Gonna Take It is a 1984 hit song by the band Twisted Sister. ...

Iron Eagle was released in the same year as another popular aviation-based action film, Top Gun, thus forcing a shift in release dates as to avoid competition at the box office with each other. The film was followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle II. Aces: Iron Eagle III and Iron Eagle IV. Top Gun is a 1986 American film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures. ... The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ... Iron Eagle II is a 1988 action film about a joint United States/Soviet task force formed to counter the threat of an unnamed Middle Eastern country. ...

Trivia / Movie Mistakes

The delta-winged hostile aircraft featured in the movie are identified as MiG-23s, but are actually IAI Kfirs, a Dassault Mirage variant flown by the Israeli Air Force. In the second film, F-4 Phantoms were used in the role of MIG 29s. All aircraft used in the making of the two first films are Israeli craft and were filmed with the help of the IAF. The delta-wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle. ... Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich, or MiG (Russian: Микоян, Микоян-Гуревич or МиГ) is a Russian military aircraft manufacturer. ... The Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir (Hebrew: כפיר, Lion Cub) is an Israeli-built all-weather, multi-role combat aircraft based on a modified Dassault Mirage 5 airframe, with Israeli avionics and an Israeli-made version of the General Electric J79 turbojet engine. ... Former South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Israeli Air Force (IAF) (Hebrew: זרוע האוויר והחלל Zroa HaAvir VeHaḤalal, literally Air and Space Arm) is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces and currently operates around 900 aircraft. ... The F-4 Phantom II (simply F-4 Phantom after 1990) is a two-place (tandem), supersonic, long-range, all-weather fighter-bomber built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation. ... The Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO reporting name Fulcrum) is a Russian fighter aircraft used in the air superiority role. ...

The US Air Force has a long-standing policy about not cooperating on any film involving the theft of an aircraft. Consequently, they filmmakers turned to the Israeli Air Force for the necessary aerial sequences.

The "BA" markings on the F-16's rudder does not exist in real life; this letter designation was used on the F-4 Phantom. The F-4 Phantom II (simply F-4 Phantom after 1990) is a two-place (tandem), supersonic, long-range, all-weather fighter-bomber built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation. ...

The movie is known for having some of the most unrealistic prop explosions in history. When the enemy Kfirs explode you can clearly see wooden parts of a mock-up model splintering for example. When an F-16 explodes, you can see clearly they are using the explosion of the Kfirs instead. The capabilities of the F-16 as depicted in the film are also unrealistc - for example, Doug uses the F-16's 20mm Vulcan cannon to blow up a whole host of large targets including a control tower building which errupts into a massive fireball, something that wouldn't happen in real life from mere bullets. (Note - 20mm cannons fire explosive shells, not bullets of solid metal - but the shells would be unable to destroy a structure such as a control tower.) In a scene toward the end of the movie Doug creates a wall of flame across a runway using the "Hades Bomb," a completely fictional weapon that does not exist in the U.S. Air Force inventory. He also fires an AGM-65 Maverick missile while on the ground, which is not possible in real life - the F-16's weapon system is inhibited by a pressure sensor in the nosegear. The control tower at Schiphol airport. ... Seal of the Air Force. ... The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-surface tactical missile (ASM) designed for close air support, prohibition, and forceful prevention. ...

Numerous continuity errors are also present including constantly changing weapon loadouts on the F-16's and the aircraft type switching between single seat F-16A models and two-seat F-16B models within the same flight sequence.

Despite the errors the movie remains a cult classic among action movie and aerial-combat fans. This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ...

External links

• IMDb entry
• Rainey Haynes' Official Website