Flight Angels
| Flight Angels | |
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1940 Film poster
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| Directed by | Lewis Seiler |
| Produced by | Edmund Grainger Bryan Foy (Executive producer, uncredited) |
| Written by |
Jerry Wald (Story) Richard Macaulay(Story) Maurice Leo (Screenplay)) |
| Starring |
Virginia Bruce Dennis Morgan Wayne Morris Ralph Bellamy |
| Music by | Heinz Roemheld (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | L. William O'Connell |
| Edited by | James Gibbon |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros./First National Picture |
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Release date
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Running time
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74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Flight Angels is a 1940 aviation film directed by Lewis Seiler from an original story by Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay. It starred Virginia Bruce, Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris and Ralph Bellamy as airline employees, flying Douglas DST airliners. The basic premise of the film is to accurately describe the training and operational conditions of an airline, which is faithfully depicted as stewardess and pilots go through the daily routine of flying in the 1940s.
Although "ace" commercial airline pilot, Chick Faber (Dennis Morgan) is grounded by Flight Superintendent Bill Graves (Ralph Bellamy) when a flight physical reveals that his eyesight is failing. Aided by stewardess Mary Norvell (Virginia Bruce) and her friend, Nan Hudson (Jane Wyman), Graves persuades Chick to take a job as teacher in the school for stewardesses. While he remains at the airline, along with engineer, Artie Dixon (Wayne Morris), he continues work on the design of a secret research aircraft, he calls the "stratosphere ship" that will revolutionize commercial aviation by flying faster and higher than any current type.
After Farber and Norvell get married, he finds that teaching is too restrictive and yearns to get back to his secret project. When he learns that the US Army Air Corps is going to test his aircraft, he attempts to get permission to make the first flight, but is refused due to his failing eyesight. Coming back after hours, Farber takes off and puts his secret aircraft through a high altitude test although Graves warns him by radio that the aircraft is too dangerous to fly without further development. At height, windows blow in and Farber barely recovers from going unconscious and pulling out of a high-speed dive, to make a crash landing back at his base.
Angrily giving up his pilot's license, he decides to leave his wife and join the newly formed Chinese mercenary air force fighting against Japan. Air Corps officers intercept him in San Francisco and call him back to active duty in the military to keep the secret of the "stratosphere ship" in US hands. Graves rearranges Mary's flight schedule, sending her to San Antonio, where she is met by newly promoted Capt. Farber, now a flight instructor at Randolph Field. The reunited couple are finally at peace, knowing that everything will turn out all right.
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Wikipedia