Dive Bomber is a far better film than commonly assumed. Rather than just another '30's flying flick, it addresses some issues that were, in fact, at the very top of aeromedical research at the end of the 1930's: high altitude flying, cabin pressurization, the physiological strain of repeated flights to high altitude and then rapid descents, the ability of pilots to withstand high-g loadings (on the order of 8 or 9 g) during dive pull-outs. It was a time when all the U.S. military services (and foreign ones as well) were rapidly expanding their recruitment and training of flying doctors--what were called flight surgeons in American practice--who coupled the practical experience of being trained aviators with the professional expertise of trained physicians and laboratory researchers. Such individuals played a major role in advancing flight into the stratosphere and, after the war, into space. Once stripped of these more significant elements, Dive Bomber echoes many of the themes found in more conventional aviation films of the time period: brash young pilot, grumpy older squadron-mates, kindly mentor, the "guy you know will die," etc. What it has in abundance is extraordinary COLOR footage--not tinted--of some of the most interesting aircraft of the time period: Grumman F3F biplane fighters, Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers, Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, Stearman and Ryan trainers, etc. The Navy really supported the film (Fred MacMurray was, in fact, a USN Reserve officer, and there are wonderful shots of old North Island NAS in San Diego, as well as landmarks such as the Hotel Del Coronado, beloved by generations of naval aviators. It also shows one of the ironies of the period: dive and torpedo bombers were modern cantilever monoplanes, while the Navy's fighters were still braced biplanes! There is a somewhat sobering element as well. The film was made before Pearl Harbor, and one wonders just how many of the young aircrew seen in the film--particularly those TBD pilots, many of whom perished at Midway--survived the war. Rent it tonight!
Review of Dive Bomber
