A Yank in the RAF
| A Yank in the R.A.F. | |
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Original theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Henry King |
| Produced by | Louis Edelman Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Written by |
Karl Tunberg Darrell Ware Melville Crossman (story) |
| Starring |
Tyrone Power Betty Grable |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography |
Ronald Neame Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Barbara McLean |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200,000 |
A Yank in the R.A.F. is a 1941 American black-and-white war film directed by Henry King, and is considered a typical early-World War II film. Originally titled The Eagle Squadron, it is based on a story by "Melville Crossman", the pen name for 20th Century Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. It follows an American pilot who joins the Royal Air Force (RAF) during a period when the United States was still neutral.
In 1940, American-built North American Harvard training aircraft are flown to just outside Canada, where they are towed across the border for use by Britain. (The procedure is necessary to avoid violating the Neutrality Acts, as the United States is still neutral.) Cocky American pilot Tim Baker (Tyrone Power) decides to fly across the border to Trenton, Ontario, and winds up in trouble with the military authorities, unconvincingly claiming he was looking for Trenton, New Jersey. Baker ferries a Lockheed Hudson bomber to Britain, pocketing $1,000 for his work.
In London, he runs into his on-again off-again girlfriend Carol Brown (Betty Grable), who works in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force by day and stars in a nightclub by night. She is none too pleased to see him, calling him a "worm" for his womanizing ways, lying, and long absence, but he is confident she still harbors strong feelings for him.
He decides to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Meanwhile, Brown attracts the appreciative attention of two RAF officers, Wing Commander John Morley (John Sutton) and Flying Officer Roger Pillby (Reginald Gardiner). Morley persists in seeing Brown, despite being told at the outset that there is another man. Pillby is unable to persuade either Baker or Morley to introduce him.
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