The Iraqi pilot did defect to Israel with his jet, but that is about the only thing this movie and the reality has in common.
The problem is that for a limited budget TV movie like this, most of the money is spent on paying celebrity Mariel Hemingway instead of being spent on making more realistic scenes. As a result, the movie had very serious flaws that is easily recognized by those with limited military and historical background:
For example, all jets used in this movie are two generations earlier than what was in real life: the Iraqi pilot defected with MiG-21 delta-wing supersonic fighters, but in the movie, this was replaced by obsolete subsonic swept wing MiG-17.
For Israeli Air Force, its delta winged supersonic fighter derived from the French Mirage III is replaced by the jet three generations earlier in this movie: the straight winged subsonic USA F-80 jet that first entered service at the end of World War II, more than two decades before the actual defection.
More financial resource should be spent on making this movie more realistic because the story is good enough for any actress, there is no need to hire a celebrity specifically.
The problem is that for a limited budget TV movie like this, most of the money is spent on paying celebrity Mariel Hemingway instead of being spent on making more realistic scenes. As a result, the movie had very serious flaws that is easily recognized by those with limited military and historical background:
For example, all jets used in this movie are two generations earlier than what was in real life: the Iraqi pilot defected with MiG-21 delta-wing supersonic fighters, but in the movie, this was replaced by obsolete subsonic swept wing MiG-17.
For Israeli Air Force, its delta winged supersonic fighter derived from the French Mirage III is replaced by the jet three generations earlier in this movie: the straight winged subsonic USA F-80 jet that first entered service at the end of World War II, more than two decades before the actual defection.
More financial resource should be spent on making this movie more realistic because the story is good enough for any actress, there is no need to hire a celebrity specifically.