# Air Force (1943 film)
**Air Force** is a 1943 American black-and-white war film directed by Howard Hawks for Warner Bros., following the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress named the Mary-Ann from a routine peacetime flight into the Japanese attack on [Pearl Harbor](https://www.edgepedia.org/pearl-harbor) and on through the early Pacific defeats of World War II.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) It stars John Ridgely, John Garfield, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy, Harry Carey, and [George Tobias](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-tobias), with a screenplay by Dudley Nichols to which [William Faulkner](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-faulkner) contributed uncredited.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York premiere February 3, 1943; general release March 20, 1943; 124 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) |
| Key credits | Directed by Howard Hawks; produced by Hal B. Wallis; screenplay by Dudley Nichols; cinematography by James Wong Howe; editing by George Amy; music by Franz Waxman[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film419763.html) |
| Principal cast | John Ridgely (Capt. Mike "Irish" Quincannon), John Garfield (Sgt. Joe Winocki), Harry Carey (Sgt. Robby White), Gig Young (Lt. Bill Williams), Arthur Kennedy (Lt. Tommy McMartin), George Tobias (Cpl. Weinberg)[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) |
| Story | The Mary-Ann leaves California for Hawaii on December 6, 1941, arrives amid the Pearl Harbor attack, and is sent on to the defense of the Philippines, with action at Wake Island and the Battle of the Coral Sea[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film419763.html) |
| Awards | Won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Film Editing (George Amy); nominated for Original Screenplay, Black-and-White Cinematography, and Special Effects; named to the National Board of Review's Top Ten Films for 1943[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035616/awards/) |
| Box office | Returned $2.7 million, Warner Bros.' fourth-biggest hit among its nine 1943 releases that earned at least $2 million[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends) |
| Critical standing | 82% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 11 reviews[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story begins at a San Francisco air base on December 6, 1941, where the crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress Mary-Ann prepares for a routine flight to Hawaii. Two new men join the established crew: assistant radio operator Chester (Ray Montgomery), on his first flight, and aerial gunner Joe Winocki ([John Garfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-garfield)), a cynical pilot-trainee washout. As the bomber flies over the Pacific on December 7, the crew hears Japanese voices on the radio and learns that Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor is under attack; they arrive unable to help in their unarmed aircraft. The plane is then sent on to Manila to aid the defense of the Philippines, and the crew fights through events at [Wake Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/wake-island), the Philippines, and the [Battle of the Coral Sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/battle-of-the-coral-sea).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film419763.html)
The crew is written as a cross-section of American types, and the film follows their personal dramas alongside the combat: Winocki's thwarted ambition to become a pilot, crew chief White's loss of a son, and the gradual coalescing of the men into a unified fighting unit. Hawks's stated theme is teamwork and collective responsibility; as Quincannon tells the men, "It takes all of us to make this ship function."[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) • [6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends) The film opens with a written foreword quoting [Abraham Lincoln](https://www.edgepedia.org/abraham-lincoln)'s Gettysburg Address and closes with a statement that the story's "real end will be the victory for which Americans... have fought, are fighting now and will continue to fight until peace has been won," together with an acknowledgment to the [United States Army Air Forces](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-army-air-forces).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE)
## Production
Hawks, a veteran of the Air Corps of World War I, made the film at the height of the war with the military's active cooperation; the closing credits thank the Army Air Forces for its assistance.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) Production ran from June 18 to October 26, 1942.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) Because West Coast residents feared a Japanese invasion, the studio could not film locally any scenes with planes dressed to appear Japanese, so the aerial work was shot at Drew Field in [Tampa, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/tampa-florida), and Randolph Field in [San Antonio](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-antonio), Texas, with sets recreating Hickam Field, Wake Air Force Base, and Clark Field in Manila.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE)
**A real bomber and a replica set.** [James Wong Howe](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-wong-howe) replaced the ailing Tony Gaudio as cinematographer, and he and his associates earned much praise for black-and-white photography that blended newsreel footage with simulated battle sequences.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) A real B-17 served for many exterior shots; after the film's release it was returned to active duty in the Pacific and was lost at sea along with its entire crew. Interior scenes were filmed inside a $40,000 replica of the plane.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force)
**Faulkner's uncredited work.** Hawks's friend William Faulkner contributed uncredited material to Nichols's screenplay, most notably the pivotal scene in which the crew gathers around the bed of their dying pilot and indulges his delirium by talking him through a takeoff checkdown. Faulkner also supplied dialogue such as Weinberg's line about California: "The sun shines and nothing ever happens, and before you know it you're 60 years old."[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) IMDb additionally credits Leah Baird and William Faulkner as writers alongside Nichols.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035616/)
## Reception and box office
Warner Bros. released the film in early 1943 with considerable fanfare, including a Grossett and Dunlap publication of John O. Watson's novelized version of Nichols's screenplay, and showed it starting at 9:00 AM to accommodate defense workers on the graveyard shift.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE) It returned $2.7 million, ranking as the studio's fourth-biggest hit among the nine 1943 releases that earned at least $2 million, seven of which were war pictures.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends)
Critical response was mixed in a consistent pattern: the film's authenticity and semidocumentary style were often praised, while its war-melodrama formula was routinely criticized.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends) Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that although it "draws about the longest and most pliant bow that has ever been drawn in the line of fanciful war films and goes completely overboard in the last reel, it is still a continuously fascinating, frequently thrilling and occasionally exalting show."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force) [James Agee](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-agee) in [The Nation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-nation) called it "loud, loose, sincere, violently masculine, and at times quite exciting," and Gilbert Seldes in Esquire wrote, "There isn't a literary line in Air Force; and there isn't a phony character."[8](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/air-force) Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader saw it as "a perfect vehicle for [Hawks's] study of the male group."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force)
At the 1944 Academy Awards the film won the Oscar for Best Film Editing, awarded to George Amy, and drew three further nominations: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Dudley Nichols); Best [Cinematography](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinematography), Black-and-White (James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer, and Charles A. Marshall); and Best Effects, Special Effects (Hans F. Koenekamp, Rex Wimpy, and Nathan Levinson). The [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review) named it one of the Top Ten Films of 1943.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035616/awards/)
## Propaganda content and historical liberties
The film was purposely designed to rally the American public behind the troops at a point when victory was still in doubt, and it deviates freely from fact for dramatic effect. Its climax time-shifts the Battle of the Coral Sea by five months to give the Mary-Ann a starring role and end the film on an uplifting note after a bleak series of American defeats.[9](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/flight-and-film/)
A more consequential distortion is the film's repeated false assertion that members of Hawaii's Japanese population collaborated with the enemy in the Pearl Harbor assault, including Japanese snipers infiltrating ground facilities; Hawks's film later drew criticism for these anti-Japanese slurs.[9](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/flight-and-film/) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force) Later reviewers have judged the film's propagandistic character accordingly: Dennis Schwartz called it "superior" as a propaganda film, while Christopher Lloyd described it as "a cheery bit of war propaganda that feels cringeworthy today."[8](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/air-force) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force)
## Place in Hawks's work
Air Force was Hawks's final aviation film, closing a cycle that included Only Angels Have Wings (1939). It reuses his familiar professional-group setting, and the redemption arc of the embittered gunner Winocki parallels that of earlier Hawks characters. Within the limits imposed by its propagandistic intent and relentless pace, the film is effective, and its battle scenes and claustrophobic fuselage sequences display the documentary verisimilitude that the military's cooperation made possible.[9](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/flight-and-film/) A retrospective critic for the Chicago Reader noted that William Faulkner polished the dialogue, but that "as a silent it would still be tremendously exciting and evocative."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force)
## References
1. [Air Force (1943), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24021-AIR-FORCE)
2. [Roger Fristoe, "Air Force," Turner Classic Movies article (2003)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/29869/air-force)
3. [Air Force (1943), FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film419763.html)
4. [Air Force, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/air_force)
5. [Air Force (1943) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035616/awards/)
6. ["Wartime Stars, Genres, and Production Trends," Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/wartime-stars-genres-and-production-trends)
7. [Air Force (1943), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035616/)
8. [Air Force, Movies Anywhere (collected critic quotes)](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/air-force)
9. [Cliff Froehlich, "Flight and Film," The Common Reader, Washington University in St. Louis (2023)](https://commonreader.wustl.edu/flight-and-film/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1934 to 1962*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license