The Dawn Patrol (1930 film)

The Dawn Patrol is a 1930 American PreCode World War I film starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was directed by Howard Hawks, a former World War I flight instructor, who even flew in the film as a German pilot in an uncredited role. The Dawn Patrol won the Academy Award for Best Story for John Monk Saunders. It was subsequently remade in 1938, with the same title, while the original was then renamed Flight Commander and released later as part of the Warner Bros. film catalog.

Scott and Courtney have a falling out when Scotts younger brother is one of the new replacements and is immediately ordered on a mission. He is killed flying the Dawn Patrol. Brand returns with orders for what amounts to a suicide mission far behind enemy lines. Courtney is forbidden to fly the mission, so Scott angrily volunteers. Courtney gets him drunk and flies off in his stead. He shoots down von Richter returning from the successful mission but is killed by another German pilot. Scott becomes squadron commander and reads orders to his new replacements.Although Ronald Colman was originally to be cast as the lead actor in The Dawn Patrol, Richard Barthelmess was offered by the studio. Paramount Publix Corp. also loaned Actor Neil Hamilton and writer Seton I. Miller for the film. Principal photography began in February 1930 with exteriors shot at the Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys, Newhall, and Sherwood Forrest in Southern California. ........

Source: Wikipedia