Wellman had been a pilot with the Lafayette Flying Corps during World War I, where he earned the nickname "Wild Bill," and with the United States Army Air Service after the war. He was a veteran aviation movie director whose "Wings" won the first-ever Academy Award (1927–1928). Wellman provided the voice-over narration that begins the film, and his two sons, Tim and Mike, who were eleven and five at the time, played the parts of Andy Devine's sons. It is notable that the women in the film, Ann Doran, Dawn Bender and Phyllis Winger, appear only in brief flashbacks or, in Doran's case, in a telephone conversation. The lack of a romantic interest was noted by critics who considered the film a more authentic and gritty drama compared to the usual Hollywood war movie. Wellman, who generally was not well liked by actors and actresses — a feeling that he reciprocated — was known to prefer to work with men, and many of his films are set in all-male (or nearly all-male) worlds.