The Parahawk is a fictional hybrid paraglider/snowmobile used by the Russian Military. The vehicles have a fabric wing comprising a large number of interconnected baffled cells from which is suspended a single-pilot snowmobile driven by a pusher propeller. Parahawks appear in the 1999 James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough, and its video-game adaptation of the same name.
History[]
James Bond flies to Azerbaijan, where oil heiress Elektra King is overseeing the construction of her late father's oil pipeline. During a tour of the pipeline's proposed route in the Caucasus mountains, Bond and Elektra are attacked by a four-man hit squad using Russian Parahawks provided by Dr. Mikhail Arkov. The assassins chase Bond down a forested slope, firing wildly with sub-machine guns and dropping hand-grenades. One manages to entangle his parachute in a tree and violently explodes. Two of the vehicles detach from their chutes and pursue 007 on the snow, culimating in one colliding with a tree and the other falling from a cliff. The latter vehicle demonstrated its survivability by deploying a secondary parachute and gaining altitude. Bond destroys the final pair of Parahawks by tearing a hole in one of their chutes, causing it to lose control and collide with the remaining vehicle.
Behind the Scenes[]
- "The formation flying was pretty easy. Since the stuntmen were sky divers, they were comfortable being in the air."
- ― Tim Leblanc, stunt flyer.
The vehicle was designed by Trever Engler, who was also a stunt pilot in the movie.
The skiing chase sequence in the Caucasus was shot on the slopes of Chamonix, France.[1] Filming of the scene was delayed by an avalanche; the crew helped in the rescue operation.[2] There were originally a total of eighteen 'flying' and 'land' Parahawks built for the film.[3] A modified ski-doo snowmobile is under the 'land' variant's shell, making the vehicle capable of ploughing over drifts three metres high.[4] Articulated steel skis help the Ski-doo change direction on snow. In the air, however, their weight and that of some frame modifications caused problems during test flights. In a bid to improve the vehicle's airworthiness, Parahawk frames used for airborne variants were made of lightweight black fibreglass to reduce weight. Land variants were more robust.[4] The vehicle's especially low windscreen was designed for filming purposes so the actors could be clearly seen. Steering for the airborne version's parachute was hidden inside the driver's pod where a pulley system was added for turning.[4] Only usable in very mild weather conditions, controllability of the flying Parahawks proved difficult, resulting in the stuntmen flying 'all over the place' as the winds grew stronger.[4]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Filming locations for The World Is Not Enough (1999). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 16 January 2008.
- ↑ Ian Nathan. "Unseen Bond", Empire, October 2008, p. 105.
- ↑ The World Is Not Enough. The Ian Fleming Foundation. Retrieved on 18 April 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 (2013) The James Bond Car Collection: Issue 87. Eaglemoss Publications, pp.4-5.