Flyboys in Air Classics Magazine

[Bruno Stachel]

I just read Jim Farmer’s interesting article about Flyboys in the November issue of Air Classics. I thought it was a good article that covered a lot of ground; from some historical background on WWI aviation genre films, the history of the Lafayette Escadrille, to some interesting tidbits on getting all the aircraft together for the film – including a Nieuport 17 replica hanging in a certain famous collector’s museum in Florida.

The article makes some comparisons between Flyboys and the great WWI aviation films Wings, Hells Angels, The Dawn Patrol, and The Blue Max. One interesting note: I didn’t know that director William Wellman wasn’t invited to the opening of Wings, or to the Academy Awards ceremony where it won the first Best Picture Oscar. For that matter, until I read this article, I didn’t know that the director of Wings actually flew for the Lafayette Escadrille!

The article was very informative, and not without criticism. It mentions all of the red tri-planes and why the squadron appeared to conduct training and combat operations from the same field. And we get what I thought were good answers – for using the same field anyway!

I think this is a good informative article. Has anyone else seen the article yet? I’d love to hear your comments.