Wings - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Wings or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Wings

[aaron]

First film for legendary costume designer Edith Head.

[carla]

This film marks the first time that actors were filmed flying in the air.

[jeffrey]

A scene of an aerial raid on a German troop train was filmed but not used. It later turned up as part of The Legion of the Condemned (1928).

[frances]

"Wings" had a huge budget of $2 million and took nine months to shoot.

[dustin]

With the thousands of extras battling on the ground, dozens of airplanes flying around in the sky and hundreds of explosions going off everywhere, only two injuries on the entire picture were incurred. One was by veteran stunt pilot Dick Grace. A plane he was crashing was supposed to completely turn over, but it only turned partly over. Instead of being thrown clear of the plane, which was the plan, Grace was hurled against part of the fuselage and broke his neck. He returned to the company after six weeks in the hospital. The other injury was to one of the army pilots helping out on the shoot. Unfortunately, he was killed, and director William A. Wellman feared it would shut down production, but the army held the pilot, not the director, responsible.

[ethel]

According to biographer David Stenn, Clara Bow did not like her military uniform, as it did not show off her figure. She kept fighting with the costumers to let her wear a tight belt and show off her curves.

[ray]

In 1925 and 1926, Byron Morgan sent ideas for a story about air service in World War I to Famous Players Lasky Corporation. The company agreed when he brought this to their attention, and settled with him for $3750 which included his waiving claims to all rights to his material.

[charlie]

This was one of the few films to win the Oscar for Best Picture without also being nominated for Best Director.

[michele]

When a preview was shown in San Antonio, Texas in the spring of 1927, the film was fourteen reels long. It was cut down to thirteen for final theatrical release.

[violet]

For the film's restoration, the original score was unearthed from the Library of Congress. It was believed that this was the only manuscript left of the music.

[brent]

Much of the film was based on the experiences of director William A. Wellman as a combat pilot during World War I. While stationed in France, he joined the French Foreign Legion's Lafayette Flying Corps, N.87, les Chats Noir (Black Cat Group). The plane he flew was a Nieuport 24 fighter, which he named "Celia" after his mother. He was credited with three recorded "kills" of enemy aircraft, plus five probable kills. Wellman was shot down in combat and survived the crash, but walked with a limp for the rest of his life. He received the Croix du Guerre for his service. After the war, he returned home and joined the US Army Air Corps for two years, where he taught combat tactics to new pilots at Rockwell Field in San Diego.

[oscar]

While many believe that this was the first movie to incorporate product placement (Hershey's Chocolate Bar), it is not true. The earliest known occurrence of product placement in a film was that of Red Crown gasoline in the short film The Garage (1920).

[jim]

Dick Grace, stunt flier, describes his experiences in making this film (and others) in the book Crash Pilot.

[russell]

Chocolate syrup was used as blood in the film.

[steve]

The Battle of St. Mihiel was meticulously staged, with William A. Wellman spending ten days choreographing and rehearsing sixty planes and 3,500 extras, who were consisted exclusively of members of the National Guard.

[ivan]

Clara Bow wasn't happy with appearing in the film, as she knew her part was merely decorative.

[sandra]

In contrast to co-star Richard Arlen, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers did not know how to fly a plane when production began, but learned how to by the end of it. During filming, Rogers' flight instructor and sometime backup pilot was Lt. Hoyt Vandenberg (aka "Van"), an Army Air Corps pilot at California's March Field (Vandenberg later became a four-star general, commanding the 9th Air Force in World War II, and served as the US Air Force's first official chief of staff after the war, when the Air Force was made a separate branch of the military). For close-up scenes where Jack and David (and other characters) are flying, the actors are actually working the planes themselves. To shoot these scenes, a camera was strapped to the engine cowling. The actors had to get the plane up in the air, keep it up, fly it so that clouds or German fighter planes could be seen in the background, operate the (motorized) camera and land the plane-and act at the same time. During Rogers' early flights, Vandenberg would hide in the back seat of the plane and operate the controls while Rogers gave his performance.

[jeffrey]

Held the record for the Best Picture Oscar winner with the shortest name until Gigi (1958).

[jeffrey]

Director William A. Wellman appeared in the film, in what today could be called a "cameo" (although he does "speak"). During the final battle scene, Wellman, portraying a doughboy, is shot and exclaims, "Atta boy! Them buzzards are some good after all!"