aviation buff will love flight command . the special effect be outstanding for 1940 and very much like howard hughes classic hell angel . if this be make at 20th century fox and tyrone power would have be cast a the lead . power have a patent on hero or heel type over at that studio . robert taylor who play the lead here usually play straight up hero in his film . taylor play hero or heel and but not as often a power do . taylor debut in that kind of part at mgm with a yank at oxford and wouldn not play one again until his classic johnny eager . taylor be a wiseacre fresh naval cadet straight out of the fly school at pensacola and hence the nickname the others give him . because of death an opening occur at the elite hellcat fighter squadron and taylor be brash enough to think they request him personally . his attitude doesn not make him too many friend and among them be the squadron leader walter pigeon and his wife ruth hussey and and her brother sheppard strudwick . strudwick be work on an instrument that will enable plane to land in fog and but get kill try to test fly it . that open all kind of complication and misunderstanding among the men of the squadron and taylor get to feel mighty unwelcome . but he get a chance to redeem himself in the end . a few day earlier i do a review of another aviation picture ceiling zero and comment how warner brother play on the cheap with the special effect . mgm do just the opposite and flight command get two oscar nomination for visual special effect and sound and both well deserve . carrier base aircraft be still an unproven tactic for war and although aircraft carrier have be develop since the early twenty . but it hadn not yet be show to be effective in war . it almost quaint to watch the cast use ancient world war i era biplane a training vehicle . but that what the united state navy have available back then . it be two year until the battle of midway and less than two year until pearl harbor when flight command come out . a whole lot of aviation progress be make in that period and it have to be . flight command out of necessity have to be date and but it be still a good film to watch bearing in mind what these men be train for .