God is My Co-Pilot is a 1945 war movie based on the autobiography of the same name by Robert Lee Scott, Jr. The film tells the story of Scott's time with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma during World War II.
Plot
God Is My Co-Pilot was based on the best-selling autobiography by fighter pilot Col. Robert Lee Scott Jr., who fought in the Pacific during World War II. At 34, Scott played by Dennis Morgan was told he was too old to fly in combat, but he is stationed in a combat zone flying transport planes over The Hump into China.
Scott persuades Claire Chennault (Raymond Massey), the leader of the Flying Tigers to let him fly with the airmen who have been fighting the Japanese as a mercenary air force. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly fictional Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe (Richard Loo).
Cast
As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):[1]
Production
In order to provide authentic aerial sequences, the principal photography took place at Luke Auxiliary One airfield in Arizona. The use of Training Command Curtiss P-40Fs, some one dozen North American B-25Gs and various other training aircraft helped create a busy sky, but unfortunately also leading to the loss of "one military flier in an inadvertent midair." [2] The Warner Brothers' Ranch near Los Angeles also became the airfield set for the film's opening sequence at the AVG Kunming where a trio of the full-scale P-40 mock-ups built several years earlier for the 1942 Republic classic, "Flying Tigers" were evident in the background.[2] The director of air operations was famed Hollywood "stunt pilot" Paul Mantz.
To portray the Japanese A6M Zero fighters, the production used "Hollywood Zeros," the ubiquitous North American AT-6 trainers, painted in camouflage and Japanese markings.
Colonel Robert L. Scott Jr. in his P-40 Warhawk in 1943. (USAF photo)
Reception
Regarded as typical Hollywood fare by most moviegoers, God is My Co-Pilot nonetheless, attempted to be mainly faithful to Col. Robert Lee Scott Jr."s original story of his exploits over China. Using real people and only occasionally resorting to fictional characters such as Tokyo Joe, did provide some authenticity to the film. The public reaction, however, by 1945 to what was essentially seen as another in a series of patriotic, "flag-waving" features, relegated it to an also-ran in both critical and commercial assessment. The sub-plot of Scott's inspirational message was also regarded as forced.
In a modern context, the film has received a revival in interest as it is now considered one of the "classic" aviation films primarily due to its aerial scenes which were even at the time considered one of its assets.[3] Along with Scott's role in telling the story of the Flying Tigers, God is My Co-Pilot is now considered more as a historical record.
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Dolan Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Oriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
External links
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