History Main / StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' has the USA Warthogs their gatling guns at a targeted location, and firing missiles once their close enough.

* ''Film/{{Patton}}''. During the attack on Patton's headquarters by the Nazi bombers, the machine gunners in the planes' nose turrets strafe the ground, sending the American forces into confusion.

SisterTrope to HollywoodTactics. Compare BuzzingTheDeck.

** During the IndianaJones stunt show's recreation of the Cairo marketplace fight and truck destruction of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Indy shoots a thug on a rooftop, allowing him to [[RailingKill fall from his perch]], and takes his MP-40 to blow up the oncoming truck. As the trope suggests, the bullet hits travel up the ground toward the truck, suggesting that Indy started his gunfire [[FridgeLogic at the ground a few feet in front of him]].

* In the premiere of ''{{UFO}}'', the motor convoy carrying General Henderson and Commander Straker is attacked by a FlyingSaucer which stafes the nature strips on either side of the road; somehow this crashes their car. The saucer's distinctive high-pitched whine substitutes for the Stuka dive-bombing sound.

* LionsForLambs deserves a mention as an aversion. The battle scenes feature some strafing runs by A-10s, but instead of neat ordered lines of puffs, the result, from the point of view of those on the ground, is of several large grouped explosions, approximating very well the power of a 30mm shell and the disordered pattern in which the shells hit the ground in reality.

** More GenreSavvy characters abandon vehicles and throw themselves in a ditch or into foliage alongside the road.
** Less GenreSavvy vehicle drivers try to dodge the bullets.

** This might be FridgeBrilliance on the part of Tim Burton. Batman hates killing. The machine guns on the Batplane are probably meant to scare not kill and thus are wrongly sighted which the Joker probably anticipated, though wrongly sighted guns would endanger innocent bystanders, which is a [[FridgeHorror fridge trope of an entirely different kind.]]

* Twice in ''RedTails'': Towards the beginning of the film, a quartet of P-40 Warhawks spots a German train, and dive in to strafe it. One of the pilots actually protests that they should attack the train from head-on instead, to give the [[AntiAir defensive gunners]] on the train [[ShownTheirWork less of a chance to shoot them back]]. After three of the planes strafe the train in classic Hollywood fashion to little productive effect, the fourth pilot comes at the train low and head-on, focusing all of his fire into the locomotive, trashing the train.

* In ''SoraNoWoto'', [[spoiler: Filicia]] is targeted by a tank's secondary gunner; the shots describe the standard 'bullet line' toward her.

* ''[[Anime/AbenobashiMahouShoutengai Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi]]'' uses this trope straight for purposes of parody. Sashi ends up getting strafed by a bi-plane in an episode where he's trapped in a world filled with nothing but Hollywood movie references and cliches.

Historically movies portrayed strafing unrealistically because it was safe and easy. Set off a couple of lines of small charges in the sand running toward the target, far enough apart to not endanger the stunt crew, and the audience cannot fail to get the point. It's simple, cheap, straightforward, and the inexorably approaching danger significantly raises the dramatic tension. Also, some of this is TruthInTelevision, as 'walking' shots up to the target helps to ensure you actually get a hit, though in reality (as seen in the RealLife Examples below) the strike pattern is usually less a steady progression than a butt of "shorts" and "overs"--firing from an inherently unstable platform means aircraft guns aren't particularly steady or accurate.

* The ''JonnyQuest'' TOS episode, "Calcutta Adventure". An enemy {{Mook}} makes multiple strafing runs against the Quests, who are riding in a vehicle at the time.

* Two Luftwaffe fighters strafe the beaches of Normandy in ''TheLongestDay''. Like most scenes in the movie, this was something that actually happened, when ''both'' planes the Germans were able to scramble against the invasion flew the entire length of Omaha Beach and emptied their magazines in one long trigger-pull before [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere quickly escaping before they could be shot down by the considerable number of Allied aircraft and warships in the area]].

Historically movies portrayed strafing unrealistically because it was safe and easy. Set off a couple of lines of small charges in the sand running toward the target, far enough apart to not endanger the stunt crew, and the audience cannot fail to get the point. It's simple, cheap, straightforward, and the inexorably approaching danger significantly raises the dramatic tension. Also, some of this is TruthInTelevision, as 'walking' shots up to the target helps to ensure you actually get a hit, though in reality (as seen in the RealLife Examples below) the strike pattern is usually less a steady progression than a cloud of "shorts" and "overs"--firing from an inherently unstable platform means aircraft guns aren't particularly steady or accurate.

* Soviet Yak fighters in ''CommandAndConquer: Red Alert'' attacked like this. Players eventually learned to just target a spot right ''behind'' the target, so the Yak did more damage while "walking" its shots at it. Against massed infantry, though, the nickname "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Infantry Eraser]]" is well earned, and it also chews up buildings and light vehicles with ease.

(Undoubtedly, one reason movies portrayed strafing unrealistically was because it was easier and safer. Set off a couple of lines of small charges in the sand running toward the target, far enough apart to not endanger the stunt crew, and the audience cannot fail to get the point. It's simple, straightforward, and showing the danger inexorably approaching raises the dramatic tension significantly. Also, some of this is TruthInTelevision, as 'walking' shots up to the target helps to ensure you actually get a hit, though in reality (as seen in the RealLife Examples below) the strike pattern would not be a steady progression but a combination of "shorts" and "overs"--firing from an inherently unstable platform means aircraft guns aren't particularly steady or accurate.)

Showing the path of devastation wrought by the likes of the P47-D's [[MoreDakka eight .50 cal machine guns]] would be much more difficult, expensive, dangerous, and confusing. The guns were individually aimed at a single point of intersection a certain distance in front of the plane. They were also far too powerful to waste on a single individual. These planes were said to be capable of sawing fully grown trees in half on a strafing run. Not that a pilot would be likely to see a single person on the ground in any case. Without spotters on the ground in radio contact pilots would strafe vehicles, roads, trains, or large obvious targets.

* The UrExample is probably found in the 1942 Hollywood propaganda film ''Air Force'', complete with the "two lines of bullet strikes" cliche, when a Japanese Zero strafes the protagonist's B-17 bomber crew in the Philippines. This scene probably inspired most subsequent examples and is somewhat defensible as most Japanese fighters actually did carry two cowl-mounted machine guns early in the war (in the Zero's case, two cowl and two wing guns) and the Zero's cowl and wing guns could not be fired at the same time.

* Happens frequently in ''StargateSG1'', often as the team race for the gate pursued by Death Gliders. Laying down fire ''ahead'' of the fleeing team would seem more sensible. Occasionally the Gliders manage to hit someone unimportant (''Summit''). The Gliders don't appear to have any targeting systems, so all shots are eyeballed.

* ''Film/{{Tintin}}'': Occurs as a plane from the BigBad's ship finds Tintin and Captain Haddock adrift at sea in a lifeboat.

* The UrExample is probably found in the 1942 Hollywood propaganda film ''Air Force'', complete with the "two lines of bullet strikes" cliche, when a Japanese zero strafes the protagonist's B-17 bomber crew in the Philippines. This scene probably inspired most subsequent examples, and is somewhat defensible as most Japanese fighters actually did carry two cowl-mounted machine guns early in the war and the Zero's cowl and wing guns could not be fired at the same time.

(Undoubtedly, one reason movies portrayed strafing unrealistically was because it was easier. Set off a couple of lines of small charges in the sand running toward the target. Simple and straightforward. The audience cannot fail to get the point. Also, some of this is TruthInTelevision, as 'walking' shots up to the target helps to ensure you actually get a hit.)

In RealLife, it's not so simple, as the type of target, the aircraft type, the pilot's experience, and nearby defenses or other targets (such as civilians) in the area, can all come into play.

* The UrExample might be the two Luftwaffe fighters strafing the beaches of Normandy in ''TheLongestDay''. Like most scenes in the movie, this was something that actually happened, when all ''both'' planes that could be scrambled against the invasion flew the entire length of Omaha Beach, emptying their magazines in one long trigger-pull, before [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere quickly escaping before they could be pounced by the considerable Allied aircraft and warships in the area]]. The scene and the history that inspired it are probably, by some lineage, where most imagery of Hollywood Strafing comes from.
* ''Creator/NorthByNorthwest'' may be the TropeMaker here. Even better, it's not an attack plane but a regular plane with a passenger wielding a gun.

** This might be FridgeBrilliance on the part of Tim Burton. Batman hates killing. The machine guns on the Batplane are probably meant to scare not kill and thus are wrongly sighted which the Joker probably anticipated.