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12/31/2008. The "Blue Thunder" was a converted Gazelle, originally produced in 1973 it was registered as N94494 to G.D. Turner of Vought Helicopters on August 7. On September 25, 1973, it was reregistered to N777GH, being subsequently operated/owned by Holley & Beck, F.R.B.C., Mocomb c.q. P. Bosco & Sons, and Moceri before it was purchased Columbia Pictures on August 19, 1981. It was converted to the "Blue Thunder" by Cinema Air in Carlsbad, California, with assistance from Hughes Heliciopters for the systems. The entire cockpit was removed and replaced by new cabin with flat windows. All sorts of simulated equipment were added outside and inside the cabin. Supposedly it had: bullet-proof glass armour plating 0.787 in (20 mm) barrel cannon jet turbine engine with boost capability FLIR (forward-looking infra-red) TADS (helmet-mounted target acquisition and designation system) PNVS (pilot night vision sensor) closed circuit TV-camera with a 100:1 zoom-lens twin long-range, high-sensitivity shotgun microphones cabin microphone ¾" code-numbered video-system three TV-monitors wide-band scanner computer-databank links whisper-mode for silent flight, etc. Due to all these changes the max speed was reduced from ± 200 mph (322 kmh) to a merely 90 mph (145 kmh). The superb fast shots in the movie and following TV-series were obtained by maximum speed turns around a swiveling camera. The useful load dropped so dramatically that with half of the maximum 130 gal (493 l) of fuel, only the pilot was aboard during these 'high-speed' runs. After conversion the aircraft was reregistered N52BT (still to Columbia) on November 16, 1981, on March 21, 1986 it was registered to Michael E. Grube and subsequently scrapped.