Best movies & TV Shows like Planes That Never Flew

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Planes That Never Flew Starring John Hedges, George Kerevan, Eric Brown, and more. If you liked Planes That Never Flew then you may also like: Victory Through Air Power, The Net, Battle of Britain, The Blue Max, Broken Arrow and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Planes That Never Flew is a Discovery Channel documentary series about experimental aircraft projects that never flew. Over four one-hour episodes, the series examined the history behind aborted projects to build two jet fighters, a supersonic transport, and a nuclear-powered long range bomber.

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Victory Through Air Power

This is a unique film in Disney Production's history. This film is essentially a propaganda film selling Major Alexander de Seversky's theories about the practical uses of long range strategic bombing. Using a combination of animation humorously telling about the development of air warfare, the film switches to the Major illustrating his ideas could win the war for the allies.

The Net

A secret jet aircraft capable of traveling three times the speed of sound is being developed by a group of scientists. On the day of the test flight, one of the scientists dies in a mysterious accident, and there are many arguments concerning the flight itself; some think it should be ground-controlled while Heathley (James Donald) wants it to be a manned flight with himself at the controls. Conflict also arises when one of his fellow scientists, taking advantage of Heathley's lack of attention toward his wife, Lydia (Phyllis Calvert), makes some moves on her. Then there is the question of just who is the enemy agent on the project.

Battle of Britain

In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing the Nazi invasion of Britain.

The Blue Max

A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.

Broken Arrow

When rogue stealth-fighter pilot Vic Deakins deliberately drops off the radar while on maneuvers, the Air Force ends up with two stolen nuclear warheads -- and Deakins's co-pilot, Riley Hale, is the military's only hope for getting them back. Traversing the deserted canyons of Utah, Hale teams with park ranger Terry Carmichael to put Deakins back in his box.

Chain Lightning

Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircraft corporation and bumps into his old girlfriend, Jo Holloway, who now works as a receptionist for the company.

Planes

Dusty is a cropdusting plane who dreams of competing in a famous aerial race. The problem? He is hopelessly afraid of heights. With the support of his mentor Skipper and a host of new friends, Dusty sets off to make his dreams come true.

Top Gun

For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot.

Iron Eagle

When Doug's father, an Air Force Pilot, is shot down by MiGs belonging to a radical Middle Eastern state, no one seems able to get him out. Doug finds Chappy, an Air Force Colonel who is intrigued by the idea of sending in two fighters piloted by himself and Doug to rescue Doug's father after bombing the MiG base.

Iron Eagle II

Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to cooperate is only the most minor of his problems as he discovers someone in the Pentagon is actively sabotaging his mission.

Flight World War II

International Flight 42 is on course, when all of a sudden a massive and weird storm crops up around the plane. This sends the plane back in time to the year 1940- smack dab in the middle of WWII! Now, the crew and passengers must not only find a way back to their time, but fight off the Axis powers.

Flight of the Intruder

U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Jake Grafton and his bombardier buddy, Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Cole, are two soldiers embedded in the Vietnam War growing frustrated by the military's constraints on their missions. Despite the best efforts of their commanding officer, Cmdr. Frank Camparelli, to re-engage them, this disillusioned pair decide to take the war effort into their own hands with an explosive battle plan that could well get them court-martialed.

The Sound Barrier

Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.

The Starfighters

A young Air Force lieutenant falls in love with fighter planes while his father, a Congressman and war hero, yearns for him to fly heavy bombers.

Thunderbolt

Documentary about the U.S. Air Force's P-47 Thunderbolt bomber's role in the Italian Campaign.

Toward the Unknown

Tortured into a false confession while a POW in Korea, Major Lincoln Bond returns to active service as a test pilot. Determined to clear his name, Bond battles a hard-nosed base commander, prejudiced officers and his own insecurities.

They Flew Alone

The story of flyer Amy Johnson the girl from Yorkshire who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world. Her marriage to fellow aviator Jim Mallison was less noteworthy.

God Is My Co-Pilot

Robert L. Scott has dreamed his whole life of being a fighter pilot, but when war comes he finds himself flying transport planes over The Hump into China. In China, he persuades General Chennault to let him fly with the famed Flying Tigers, the heroic band of airmen who'd been fighting the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe.

Doomsday Gun

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns (very large long range guns capable of shooting at ranges more than 100 miles). When an operational plan by the CIA to export sanctioned arms to apartheid-South Africa through him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released, and moved to Belgium to start a subsidiary, of which a major project was to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles.

Air Strike

Tasked with training a group of untested new recruits, a no-nonsense Navy commander faces a host of challenges as he attempts to transform the greenhorns into a squadron of crackerjack jet pilots. Don Haggerty co-stars as the unit's second-in-command who clashes bitterly with the cocky young upstart of the team after the lad shows off with some reckless aerial acrobatics.

SST: Death Flight

On its maiden flight, the crew of America's first supersonic transport learns that it may not be able to land, due to an act of sabotage and a deadly flu onboard.

Memories of a World War II Hero: Captain Brown's Story

Tells the story of probably the world's greatest pilot through an extensive and in-depth interview: Capt Eric "Winkle" Brown CBE, DSC, AFC. From his flight with WW1 German fighter ace Ernst Udet in 1936 through to commanding a squadron of Buccaneers at the height of the Cold War, we hear how "Winkle" Brown experienced the rise and fall of Nazism; how he flew the most dangerous, uncontrollable aircraft, how he cheated death countless times.

Guy Martin: Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber

Guy Martin helps restore XH558, the last airworthy Avro Vulcan bomber, to prepare it for its last ever flight, a 1000-mile farewell tour of Great Britain, before it is grounded.

RAF at 100 with Ewan and Colin McGregor

To celebrate the centenary of the Royal Air Force, Ewan and Colin McGregor take to the skies in some of the world's most iconic planes. These are the planes that were involved in aerial combat at every stage of the RAF's story, from the biplanes used in the early days of dogfighting in World War I to the beautiful Spitfire of the Battle of Britain, the plucky Lysander and on to mighty Vulcan nuclear bomber, as well as the Chinook helicopter and supersonic Typhoon that are still in service today. It is a story of amazing machines and epic battles, but above all it is the story of the men and women whose courage and ingenuity have been at the heart of the RAF for 100 years. On their journey Ewan and Colin meet an amazing cast of characters.

The Lancaster at War

The incredible story of the Avro Lancaster, one of the finest bombers of the Second World War, which played a crucial role in the long and savage campaign to defeat Hitler's Third Reich. This documentary features interviews with surviving veterans of Bomber Command, who share frank personal accounts of their part in an aerial battle of attrition which claimed the lives of 55'000 aircrew.

Dam Busters Declassified

Martin Shaw takes a fresh look at one of the most famous war stories of them all. The actor, himself a pilot, takes to the skies to retrace the route of the 1943 raid by 617 Squadron which used bouncing bombs to destroy German dams. He sheds new light on the story as he separates the fact from the myth behind this tale of courage and ingenuity. Using the 1955 movie The Dam Busters as a vehicle to deconstruct the raid, he tries to piece together a picture of perhaps the most daring attack in the history of aviation warfare.

Reunion of Giants

It had been 50 years since two Avro Lancaster bombers flew side by side. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster, VeRA, flew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her British counterpart, Thumper - the only other surviving flight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world - the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's (BBMF) Lancaster in England. This documentary includes first-hand accounts from the men and women who experienced the war and were connected to the Lancaster. It transports the viewer back in time as they share what it was like during the Lancaster's glory days. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family. It includes all parts in this new chapter of the bomber's history, as VeRA crosses the Atlantic.

Unbelievable Flying Objects

A hilarious countdown of the black sheep of aviation, aircraft that have embarrassed their builders, enraged the owners and terrified their pilots. These are stories of aircraft that should have never been built, including highly imaginative concepts to “fly” tanks and jeeps directly onto the battlefield, a real flying saucer and starkly bizarre efforts to design and build a submarine that flies. We come to understand why these ideas were doomed from the start…

The Shepherd

On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home gets lost mid-flight over water and needs a miracle to land safely.

Masters of the Air

During World War II, airmen risk their lives with the 100th Bomb Group, a brotherhood forged by courage, loss, and triumph.

In a Fix

In a Fix is an American television series involving a team of construction workers and a designer who "rescue" homeowners from stalled "do-it-yourself" renovation projects. Original episodes of In a Fix, which was produced by NorthSouth Productions, aired on TLC in 2004 and 2005. The program has been shown in reruns on the Discovery Home Channel in the United States, TLC in Canada and Discovery Real Time in Asia.

Biker Build-Off

Biker Build-Off is a reality television series for the Discovery Channel. Created and narrated by Thom Beers, the series was originally conceived as a single special called The Great Biker Build-Off. The show proved so popular that more episodes were produced in succeeding years, to the point that it was turned into a regular series in 2005.

When We Left Earth : The NASA Missions

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions or NASA's Greatest Missions: When We Left Earth in the UK is a Discovery Channel HD documentary miniseries consisting of six episodes documenting American human spaceflight, spanning from the first Mercury flights through the Gemini program to the Apollo moon landings, the Space Shuttle, and the construction of the International Space Station. It was created in association with NASA to commemorate the agency's fiftieth anniversary in 2008. It first aired on June 8, 2008, and concluded on June 22. Each airing consisted of two hour-long episodes. The miniseries was released on DVD on July 10, 2008, and was released on Blu-ray disc on August 12. The third episode, "Landing the Eagle", was re-aired on July 20, 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It featured improved images from the moonwalk.

Ice Pilots NWT

Ice Pilots NWT is a reality television series broadcast on History Canada that portrays Buffalo Airways, an airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Buffalo mainly flies WWII-era propeller planes year-round in the Canadian North. It premiered on November 18, 2009. The show was renewed for a second season with filming completed on August 2nd, 2010. The season premiere was aired on History Television January 12th, 2011. Season 3 was greenlit on August 18th, 2010 and began airing on October 12, 2011. In the UK, season 2 was shown on Quest commencing May 2011. The episodes in season 4 have been shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK. Season 1 of Ice Pilots began airing on the National Geographic Channel in the US on April 22, 2011. Both Season 1 and 2 have aired in Australia on National Geographic Channel and National Geographic Channel HD and currently air on the digital channel 7 Mate.

How to Build

Britain's iconic and 'secretive' engineering companies reveal how they build the world's most amazing machines. The first part of the series "How to build a nuclear submarine" a documentary following the construction of the Astute nuclear submarine. The second part of the series "How to build a jumbo jet engine", the story of the thousands of people who design, build and test engines at Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing plants in Derby and across the UK, making Rolls-Royce a central part of life for the people of places like Derby. The third and final part of the series "How to build Britain's secret engineers" when the documentary team follows workers at a leading British company on a global journey, as they reveal a handful of their secretive projects including getting Chinook helicopters ready for front line service.

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies

Series which celebrates an unlikely story of outstanding British aviation achievement at a time of national austerity, the breathtaking planes that were built and the remarkable men who flew them.

How Booze Built America

How Booze Built America is an American reality-documentary Miniseries starring Mike Rowe. The miniseries premiered on the Discovery Channel on September 19, 2012. In each episode, Rowe travels around the United States discussing how alcoholic beverages affected periods throughout American history.

Cold War, Hot Jets

A tv series looking at the many jet aircrafts of the Cold War era and the rolls they played.

Secrets of Britain

The enormous popularity of recent British dramas such as Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and Sherlock, has led to vast interest in the real-life stories and history of the icons of Great Britain. Each episode of this series visits a famous British building or institution to explore its past and present, meeting a wide range of experts and historians along the way.

The Home That 2 Built

The series looked back at British lifestyle television programmes shown on the channel from across the decades, with episodes on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s.

The Skinny Dip

The Skinny Dip is a half hour long Canadian travel and adventure television series hosted by Eve Kelly and produced by Best Boy Entertainment. The show premiered on July 9, 2008 at 9 pm EST on Canadian digital cable specialty channel, travel + escape, which commissioned six new episodes, the first of which premiered on November 18, 2009.

Concorde

Concorde is a two-part documentary telling the story of the supersonic passenger jet.

David Jason: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

In this five-part series, comedy legend Sir David Jason hits the West Coast of the USA. He’s on a revealing and entertaining journey of a lifetime by planes, trains and automobiles, discovering the machines that made America and changed the world.

Savage Builds

Adam Savage combines his insatiable curiosity and nearly unparalleled inventiveness as he attempts to build working, innovative items. Each episode will focus on one project as Adam collaborates with notable experts in their fields, friends, colleagues and others.

Planespotting Live

The joy of a very British hobby, brought to you by Peter Snow and his team, revealing the hidden histories, engineering marvels and true pleasures of plane spotting... live!

The Battle of Britain: 3 Days That Saved the Nation

Dan Snow and Kate Humble present a three-part guide to the critical aerial battle that changed the course of the Second World War, featuring personal stories of pilots, ground crews and members of the public. The first episode tracks the first skirmishes of the three-day battle,as the Luftwaffe began an all-out assault to rid Britain of air power prior to a land invasion. The first skirmishes were being tracked by a 19-year-old WAAF member in a secret London bunker, and her secret diaries provide fresh insight into the strategies behind the aerial combat.

British Planes That Won the War with Rob Bell

A look at how four iconic British-built planes became masters of the sky and pioneered a new era of flight, making heroes of the pilots who flew them. Military experts, historians and pilots reveal what made each aircraft so influential.

Pepsi, Where's My Jet?

When a 20-year-old attempts to win a fighter jet in a Pepsi sweepstakes, he sets the stage for a David versus Goliath court battle for the history books.

Top Guns: Inside the RAF

At a time of increased global tension, this new series has unprecedented access to the fighter jets, war planes and service personnel at RAF Lossiemouth.

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