Dive Bomber

A military surgeon teams with a ranking navy flyer to develop a high-altitude suit which will protect pilots from blacking out when they go into a steep dive.

• Director: Michael Curtiz
• Genre:Drama
• Runtime:127 minutes

Cast

Errol Flynn : Lt. Douglas S. ‘Doug’ Lee, MD
Fred MacMurray : Lt. Cmdr. Joe Blake, squadron commander
Ralph Bellamy : Lt. Cmdr. Lance Rogers, MD, Flight Surgeon
Alexis Smith : Mrs. Linda Fisher
Robert Armstrong: Art Lyons – aviation designer

During pre-war operations from an aircraft carrier off Hawaii, the VFA-14 “High Hats” bomber Squadron arrives in a wingover approach to San Diego although one of its pilots blacks out during the high speed dive and crashes. At the base hospital in San Diego, Lt. Commander Joe Blake (Fred MacMurray) is concerned that Lt. “Swede” Larson (Louis Jean Heydt) will not survive. Navy Lt. Doctor Doug Lee (Errol Flynn) convinces the Senior Surgeon (Moroni Olsen) to operate but the pilot dies on the operating table. After Blake blames Lee for rushing the surgery, the doctor decides to become a flight surgeon, and winds up being trained by a number of instructors including his nemesis, Lt. Commander Blake. A sub-plot involving the romantic adventures of Blake, Lee and a group of mechanics, introduces Mrs. Linda Fisher (Alexis Smith) as a love interest for the two rivals, Blake and Lee.

On completion of his flight training, Dr. Lee is posted as an assistant to Dr. Lance Rogers (Ralph Bellamy), who is working to find a solution for altitude sickness that affects pilots in dive bombers. Lee flies with Blake as his pilot in a camera-equipped aircraft and observes Blake blacking out. He experiments with a pneumatic belt that will keep blood above the heart and successfully flight tests it himself, although he disobeys regulations in flying by himself. Even though he has qualified as a pilot, Lee is still not trusted, considered a “grandstander” and a “vulture”, always there when someone crashes. His judgment over pilots’ ability to fly is further resented when he grounds a pilot, Lt. Tim Griffin (Regis Toomey), who is suffering from chronic fatigue. In anger, Griffin quits the Navy, and joins the RAF in Canada but visits his old squadron when he is ferrying a new fighter from the Los Angeles factory. On his return flight, Griffin suffers from fatigue and is killed attempting to land at an emergency field, completely misjudging his approach.

Lt. Commander Blake finally accepts that the flight surgeon is trying to help pilots survive dangerous high altitude flying, and volunteers as a “guinea pig” pilot for aerial experiments. The first flight test of a pressurized cabin nearly ends in disaster when the aircraft ices up and Blake passes out, forcing Dr. Lee to take over. During ground testing of a new invention of a pressure suit, Blake realizes that he will not pass his physical and will be grounded. Taking off without permission, Blake tests the new suit but when the oxygen regulator fails, he loses consciousness and fatally crashes. In the final scene, Blake’s self-sacrifice is acknowledged while Rogers and Lee are honored for their pioneering work in protecting pilots flying at high altitude. Read more