The Dawn Patrol

Sinopse

In 1915, at the airdrome in France of the Royal Flying Corps' No. 59 Squadron RAF, Major Brand (Basil Rathbone), the squadron commander, and his adjutant Phipps (Donald Crisp) anxiously await the return of the dawn patrol. Brand is near his breaking point. He has lost 16 pilots in the previous two weeks, nearly all of them young replacements with little training and no combat experience. Brand is ordered to send up tomorrow what amounts to a suicide mission. Captain Courtney (Errol Flynn), leader of A Flight, and his good friend "Scotty" Scott (David Niven) return, but two of the replacements are not so lucky, and another, Hollister, is severely depressed by having witnessed the death of his best friend. The survivors repair to the bar in their mess for drinks and fatalistic revelry. Courtney does his best to console Hollister, but the youngster breaks down in grief.