Warner Brothers had had a financial and critical hit in "Battle Cry", and wanted to repeat the success with Major James Altieri's biographical account of Darby's Rangers, "The Spearheaders". Altieri was known to Warner Brothers, as he had been technical advisor on "Force of Arms" (1951). Director William Wellman's reputation for superb war films lay in "The Story of G.I. Joe" and "Battleground". He was hired on condition that Warner Brothers finance his dream project, "Lafayette Escadrille", about his (Wellman's) own World War I French Foreign Legion air squadron. Warner Brothers emphasised the romantic pairings of most of the leads, as a feature of the film, to emulate the success of "Battle Cry"; problems arose.