DAWN PATROL, THE [AKA FLIGHT COMMANDER] 79
Production
The shoot for The Dawn Patrol started on 28 February 1930. The En glish airdrome
scenes were shot during the first three weeks of March at Van Nuys Airport, 15
miles northwest of Hollywood. The German airdrome sequence was then shot over
a four- day period at Newhall, Santa Clarita, and Sherwood Forest, California. Aer-
ial dogfight sequences were shot by Elmer Dyer (the first aerial cinematographer)
with a high- speed Akeley “Pancake” camera from the observer’s rear cockpit of a
biplane. These scenes were shot in April and May in the skies above the San Fer-
nando Valley with some two dozen stunt aviators, carefully drilled to choreograph
complicated maneuvers safely. It did not escape the notice of Howard Hughes that
the climactic raid on a German ammo dump in The Dawn Patrol was patently simi-
lar to a scene in Hell’s Angels (Hughes had a spy employed on Hawks’s set). Hughes
officially objected, but the scene was shot as written after producer Hal Wallis
refused to make any changes. The 13- week shoot was concluded in early June. Post-
production was rushed through and finished in just two months so that The Dawn
Patrol could preempt the general release date of its direct competitor, Hell’s Angels—
which it did by 11 weeks.
Plot Summary
A foreword in captions sets the scene: “The late fall of 1915 in France, when a great
country was forced to entrust its salvation to youth— pitifully young, inexperienced,
bewildered— but gloriously reckless with patriotism— proud and eager to rush
hopelessly into combat against the veteran warriors of the enemy.” A brief aerial
combat sequence follows, in which an RFC pi lot is shot down and killed. The pi lots
of the 59th British Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps deal with the psychologi-
cal stress of combat in a variety of ways, but mostly they resort to gallows humor
and nightly rounds of boisterous singing and drinking. The two top pi lots in “A
Flight,” Capt. Dick Courtney (Richard Barthelmess) and Lt. Douglas Scott (Doug-
las Fairbanks, Jr.), loathe their superior officer, Brand (Neil Hamilton). They blame
their commander for ordering ill- trained new flyers into the air in less- than- ideal
planes. Unbeknownst to the bitter pi lots, Brand has gone back and forth with their
high command in order to secure extra practice time in the air for the newer flight
recruits. Unfortunately, not wanting to lose their reputation as superior air fight-
ers, Brand’s superiors order the new recruits into combat as soon as they report
to their frontline base. Back at the base, Brand is forced to drink alone due to his
being ostracized by his men and begins to suffer a mental break as a result. The
situation intensifies as an incredibly capable German flight team led by von Rich-
ter (Howard Hawks) positions itself directly opposite from the British base. The
British flight crew suffers the loss of numerous veterans, meaning that the ranks
are composed of newer and newer pi lots who don’t stand a chance against the more
experienced Germans. Von Richter taunts the inexperienced pi lots, and Courtney
and Scott retaliate by going against Brand’s orders and launching an attack on the
German airdrome. Afterwards, Brand is forced to return to headquarters while
Courtney assumes command of the squadron. Newly in charge, Courtney discov-
ers that Brand was fighting to give inexperienced pi lots more time to train, but