Thunder Birds: Soldiers of the Air

Thunder Birds (1942) (subtitled "Soldiers of the Air" and also known as Thunderbirds) is a Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton. It features aerial photography and location filming at an actual Arizona training base of the United States Army Air Forces named Thunderbird Field No. 1 during World War II. The film was made as a propaganda vehicle to boost civilian morale, while at the same time providing a look at training activities and promoting airpower as a means of winning the war. Wellman was himself a veteran of the U.S. Air Service as a World War I fighter pilot.