The Dawn Patrol is the Father of Military Aviation Films

The influence of The Dawn Patrol (1930) can be seen in virtually every military aviation movie made since it premiered. With its dramatic aerial combat scenes and heroic and tragic pilot figures, The Dawn Patrol is the father of all military aviation films. 

The story revolves around a timeless theme of war films: the stress and psychological effects on commanders who have to make the life and death decisions to send young people into battle.

The film was based on an original story called Flight Commander by John Monk Saunders. Saunders was a flight instructor during World War I (WWI) and had written Wings. Director Howard Hawks developed the story with Saunders, but Saunders received sole credit and won the Academy Award for Best Story in 1931.  The film stars Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Shooting began on The Dawn Patrol in late February 1930. Howard Hughes was just putting the finishing touches on his WWI aviation epic, Hell’s Angels. Hawks hired many of the pilots and cameramen coming off Hell’s Angels. When Hughes learned of the rival movie, he tried his best to sabotage the film. He had a spy on the set of The Dawn Patrol, who was quickly caught. Hughes then sued for copyright infringement. He eventually dropped the lawsuit. Ironically, he and Hawks became good friends during the legal battle. 

A less flamboyant movie than Hells’ Angels, Hawks took a more truthful, sober approach to the story of the men who fought in the first war fought in the air. The film focused on their struggles and psychological stresses. 

Still, the film is filled with stirring flying action, all done with real aircraft and explosives. Of the many aircraft used in the filming of The Dawn Patrol, two original WWI Pfalz D.XII fighters appeared. One of the original Pfalz D.XII fighters is now in the Museum's collection. 

This blog was originally written in 2017 by Peter Jakab to promote "Hollywood Goes to War: World War I on the Big Screen," a film series at the Museum. The original title was "The Dawn Patrol: 1930 WWI Film Features Museum Aircraft." It was updated in 2025 to make it more evergreen and improve the search engine optimization. You can read the original via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.