In the classic 1981 Aussie movie Mad Max 2 starry Mel Gibson, the highways have become the domain of marauders who will stop at nothing to get their hands on precious Guzzoline. To survive out there you need to be a true Road Warrior and Max is the hero you need. Not everyone in this dystopian world takes the road though.

The Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) soars above it in his gyrocopter (“Don’t touch please, that’s a precision instrument.“). He also happens to know where a compound is with a fuel refinery. Valuable information indeed!


The Gyro Captain and his gyrocopter played a big part in the battles with the marauders. I was recently in outback New South Wales near Broken Hill and Silverton where much of the movies epic car battles and key scenes were filmed. The road near the Mundi Mundi Lookout on the Mundi Mundi Plains past Silverton feature heavily in the movie and in Silverton itself is the excellent Mad Max 2 Museum (the owners Adrian and Linda are experts on all things related to Mad Max 2 and great people to have a chat with).



The Museum has lots of behind the scenes photos, props (originals obtained from various sources and also recovered from movie locations), some of the original movie vehicles and plenty of replica vehicles including the mighty Ford XB Interceptor (“The last of the V8’s“. Click here for my visit to see the original car that is now in Miami). If you love all things Mad Max related (as I do) then this museum is a must see destination, as is visiting the nearby movie scene locations.



Something I was surprised to see in the collection though was the original gyrocopter used in the movie (supplied and flown by Gerry Goodwin in the movie). Restored and rebuilt (on display courtesy of the current owner), the gyrocopter looks much as it did in 1981, though it is minus the centrefold photos that were just stuck on it in 1981 (time took its toll on these paper ladies it seems!).



In what is essentially an Aussie muscle car based action movie, it is cool that it has an aviation link too. It is also good to see the legend of The Gyro Captain lives on!
Reblogged this on Deano's Travels.
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Wow, I didn’t know that museum existed. Thank you.
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[…] tag of “the last of the V8’s” was born) to dune buggies, trucks and more! There was even a gyrocopter flown appropriately by The Gyro Captain. No one ever asks why they all spend so much time driving […]
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What about the snake, Deano? Can’t have the gyrocopter without the snake!
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Ha ha very true! I must check up on that
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alguem sabe o nome do aviao biplano de mad max alem da cupula do trovao que o capitao gyro pilota no fim do filme
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An Airtruk
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transavia_PL-12_Airtruk
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qual nome do avião do capitao gyro no final do filme mad max alem da cupula do trovao
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