Age: 83 years
GRS Rating: 5 of 5

Notable Cast:

Errol Flynn Fred MacMurray

Duration: 2 hr, 12 min
Infractions: None.

Comments: During a Navy air show in Honolulu, an experienced pilot makes a fast dive, blacks out, and crashes. His death highlights the problem of blackouts with World War II pilots. The friends of the dead aviator and the surgeon meet again in San Diego. The surgeon wants to learn to fly so he can solve the blackout problem. Then, what about solving high-altitude sickness?

This war drama was released just before the war against Japan began. There would be a big need for airplanes to defeat the Japanese Navy, which was one of the greatest in the world. Ironically, dive bombing turned out to be a poor tactic against ships. Still, it took a year or two for the Navy to realize that fact, and longer for it to become public knowledge. I could have done without the slapstick routine with the husband avoiding his wife. Based on a novel.