The film, released in May 1929, was written by Byron Morgan, Louis D. Lighton and Hope Loring (screenplay), edited and produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman, with an original orchestral score by John Stepan Zamecnik.
Producers Lucien Hubbard and Jesse L. Lasky hired director Wellman as he was the only director in Hollywood at the time who had World War I combat pilot experience. Actor Richard Arlen and writer John Monk Saunders had also served in World War I as military aviators. Arlen was able to do his own flying in the film and Rogers, a non-pilot, underwent flight training during the course of the production, so that, like Arlen, Rogers could also be filmed in closeup in the air.
Lucien Hubbard offered flying lessons to all, and despite the number of aircraft in the air, only two incidents occurred-one involved stunt pilot Dick Grace, while the other was the fatal crash of a United States Army Air Corps pilot. Wellman was able to attract War Department support and involvement in the project, and displayed considerable prowess and confidence in dealing with planes and pilots onscreen.
The film was shot on location on a budget of $2 million (equivalent to $28.88 million in 2019) at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas between 7 September 1926 and 7 April 1927. Hundreds of extras and some 300 pilots were involved in the filming, including pilots and planes of the United States Army Air Corps which were brought in for the filming and to provide assistance and supervision. Wellman extensively rehearsed the scenes for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel over ten days with some 3500 infantrymen on a battlefield made for the production on location.
Acclaimed for its technical prowess and realism upon release, the film became the yardstick against which future aviation films were measured, mainly because of its realistic air-combat sequences. It went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture at the first annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award ceremony in 1929, the only silent film to do so. It also won the Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects.
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