This's a Warner Bros. sound effect that is not available on the Warner Bros. Sound Effects Library. It's the original (more or less artificial) recording of Warner Bros.' version of the siren of the German Ju-87 "Junkers" Stuka dive bombers (or the Stuka Siren for short). One of its earliest uses was in Bosko the Doughboy (1931), a short which predates the first flight of the Stuka in 1935 (although there may've been tests prior to 1935). It is possible that Fred McAlpin, who was the sound man for the Harman-Ising shorts, contributed to this recording; it is also possible that Treg Brown acquired the sound in 1936 when he became the sound man for Warner Bros. Studios.
In most media today, it's usually heard in a very high-pitched, yell-like, processed version known as Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM. Most versions of this sound have been used by Ben Burtt for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. This "apocalyptic howl" was recreated for the 2017 Warner Bros. picture, Dunkirk, by sound designer Richard King.
Variations
- Disney Stuka Siren (a different-pitched, processed, modified version)
- Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM (a very processed version of the siren; the most common and popular version)
- Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM, TWO TIMES
- Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - LARGE SUPERSONIC PLANE LAND AND ENGINE WIND DOWN (contains a highly processed, very high-pitched version of Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM)
- Sound Ideas, CARTOON - FAST ANVIL FALL AND IMPACT (Includes Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM in a low pitch)
- Sound Ideas, SCI FI - ROCKET LAND SPEEDER: APPROACH AND PASS BY (Includes Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM in a low pitch)
- Sound Ideas, SCI FI - ROCKET LAND SPEEDER: PASS BY SLOW (Includes Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM in a low pitch)
- Sound Ideas, SCI FI - ROCKET LAND SPEEDER: START AND AWAY (Includes Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM in reverse and a low pitch)
- WB CARTOON, AIRPLANE - JET: PASS BY 02 (Contains a highly processed version of Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM)
- WB CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE LOW DIVE AND SWOOP BY, (included at low volume)
- Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE DIVE AND SWOOP BY (similar or same recording as the above, but highly processed, like "PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM".)
- Hollywoodedge, Plane ASleep Dive En CRT056108 (Includes the Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM variant processed into a very high pitch with a whistle-like sound)
- SKYWALKER, AIRPLANE - STUKA SIREN SCREAM BY, SHORT (may be a heavily processed version of Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM)
- SKYWALKER, SIREN - STUKA SIREN WHOOP (may also be a heavily processed version of Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM)
Used In
TV Shows
- Dexter's Laboratory (Not used, but the score mimics this sound as Dee Dee dives onto Dexter in "The Big Sister".)
- Galaxy High School (First heard in "Pizza's Honor".)
- The Get-Along Gang (Used for the biplane, heard as part of WB CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE LOW DIVE AND SWOOP BY, in "The Wrong Stuff".)
- Police Academy: The Animated Series (First heard in "For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll".)
- Star Wars: Droids
- Tom and Jerry Tales (Heard once in "Bats What I Like About The South" in a different, processed pitch.)
Movies
- The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
- Convoy (1978) (Used to accent truck horn dopplers.)
- Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983) (Added to "Curtain Razor" in the overdubbed audio version, with the 500-foot dive, increasing in tone.)
- The Dawn Patrol (1938)
- Dunkirk (2017)
- Flying Tigers (1942) (Various pitches, namely the version in "Falling Hare", are used for most diving airplanes.)
- G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
- The Great Race (1965) (Heard once when Professor Fate's Rocket fails and starts falling.)
- The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (Heard briefly and sped-up in normal pitch as the cargo plane dives into a mountain.)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
- Red Tails (2012) (Used incorrectly on US bombers, German planes, P-51s and even the Nazi jets; normal and processed edits.)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) (heard when Plankton's wingless bomber falls, mixed with Hollywoodedge, Plane ASleep Dive En CRT056108.)
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Processed version used for the interior of Snowspeeders.)
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) (heard as a Rebel pilot is about to crash into the window of a Star Destroyer; Snowspeeder variant.)
- Up (2009) (Used for the biplanes of Muntz's dogs, in various pitches and processed variants.)
- Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen (1995) (Very high quality version unless confused with a recreation; used incorrectly for most of the diving biplanes. Only the first half of the siren is used.)
- Wings (1927) (Including various processed variants; 2012 version only.)
Shorts
- Disney Cartoons (A different pitched, processed, modified version is Heard once after The Thrifty Pig (1941) in promo following the short as a Nazi plane dives into one of their bombers.)
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (Heard in many shorts and much more often than the more familiar variant Sound Ideas, CARTOON, AIRPLANE - PROP PLANE POWER DIVE SCREAM. Debuted possibly in "Bosko the Doughboy". Extended, pitch-increasing edits are also used in "The Heckling Hare" and "Falling Hare".)
- Some WWII documentary in the 40s TBA (once, as a Japanese fighter spins down into the ocean, not much of a dive. Heard in a lower, deep processed pitch.)
Anime
- The Sky Crawlers (2008) (Heard occasionally, mixed with subtle variants of Looney Tunes Cartoon Fall Sound.)
Image Gallery
WB SIREN - STUKA SIREN HOWL/Image Gallery
Audio Samples
Musical remake from Dexter's Laboratory.