Air filming was done in the first weeks of September 1976, culminating in a series of air drops of a total of one thousand men, together with the dropping of supplies from several Dakota aircraft. The Dakotas were gathered by the movie company Joseph E. Levine Presents Incorporated. All aircraft were required to be C.A.A. (Civil Aviation Authority) or F.A.A. (Federal Aviation Administration) registered, and licensed to carry passengers. An original deal for the purchase of ten fell through, when two airframes were rejected as passenger configured without the necessary jump doors. Eleven Dakotas were procured. Two Portuguese, ex-Portuguese Air Force, 6153, and 6171, (N9984Q and N9983Q), and two Air International Dakotas, operating from Djibouti in French Somaliland, F-OCKU and F-OCKX, (N9985Q and N9986Q) were purchased by Joseph E. Levine. Three Danish Air Force, K-685, K-687, and K-688, and four Finnish Air Force C-47s, DO-4, DO-7, DO-10, and DO-12, were loaned for the duration of the parachute filming.

Film

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