Reply With QuoteGood question, it's the same for the scene in Skyfall when Silva arrives in the AW101 playing the Animals' Boom Boom through loudspeakers. I don't know the answer.
Have just watched Apocalypse Now again. The scene where the helicopters are approaching the beach while playing Wagner on loudspeakers. Could this actually be heard by anyone on the ground? I know it's just a film etc,etc. But if it was real would it be possible. I mean Huey helicopters were very noisy. The whopping sound of the rotors could be heard from miles away. Could anyone on the ground actually have heard any music coming from the loudspeakers? Or is it just poetic license.
Good question, it's the same for the scene in Skyfall when Silva arrives in the AW101 playing the Animals' Boom Boom through loudspeakers. I don't know the answer.
I’d not really given it much thought, but when I was involved in police helicopters they were equipped with a ‘sky shout’ system, similar to a tannoy system.
You could certainly here that over the helicopter noise, Airbus H135/145s aren’t Huey’s but still loud and the Fenestron tail rotor on the H135 especially so, so maybe it’s plausible, to go all mythbusters for a minute?
Yes, it's a great scene. I was just curious about the reality.
Does it make a difference if the speakers project the sound forward, rather than downwards with the rotor wash?
I assumed the music was being played for the troops on board to hear, rather than those on the ground. Like playing music in the team changing rooms before a rugby match.
You could be right. I assumed it was scare the villagers. We need someone with a Huey to go up and test it. I'd be surprised if even those on board would have heard anything.Originally Posted by mr noble
Sounds directional so it would be for the outside audience. The wop wop sound in the Huey is because it’s got long wide slow blades and the advancing tip hits air disturbance from the last one, you don’t hear it that much on board with a helmet on. The only one I got an hour or so in was the D model when we did an exchange day with the Americans, we went and flew with them and they came to us the next day to fly in the Gazelle.
I have a vivid memory of there being massive speakers attached to the outside of at least one of the Huey's, suggesting very much it was for those on the ground. But I can't find an image of that anywhere...
Like this?
Image taken from this webpage.
Yes very similar, though not quite as many as that in the film scene! That is a Motörhead level bank.
What were they for?
If I remember correctly the US, the CIA in particular used helicopters with sound systems in Nicaragua and parts of S America to good effect.
Did Brian Johnson (AC/DC) not claim on Top Gear that a Huey playing one of their hits on huge speakers - looking for a detained US soldier in Iraq, found him because of it?
The implication in the film is as per the OP - to play music like Ride of the Valkyries.
Edit: found the scene.
https://youtu.be/VE03Lqm3nbI?si=dDLka06WgoK7EnOy
Last edited by hughtrimble; 22nd March 2025 at 19:02.
Looks like it: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/acdc...ack-hawk-down/
So an example of someone hearing the music despite the other noise from a heli.
Yes that story rings a bell.
Also I seem to remember that police helicopters have a system to address people on the ground.
In any case it’s claimed to be intended to strike fear in whoever will find themselves on the receiving end of people who love the smell of napalm in the morning if I remember correctly.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Yes, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, Police helicopters used a public address system called SkyShout, a few air ambulances had it as well to let people know amongst other things to clear an area they had selected to land in.
Another picture from the article on Psyops in Vietnam that I linked above:
Thanks for the replies. It's very interesting and I'm glad I asked.
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