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Flying Leathernecks Overview:

Flying Leathernecks (1951) was a Drama - War Film directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by Edmund Grainger.

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On Blu-ray: John Wayne and Robert Ryan Butt Heads in Flying Leathernecks (1951)

By KC on Nov 4, 2020 From Classic Movies

Flying Leathernecks (1951) is an unusual entry in World War II cinema. While it leans into the familiar camaraderie and hijinks of many war films from the era, it offers a few visceral glimpses at the violent realities of war. This is most likely due to the influence of director Nicholas Ray, who wa... Read full article

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Flying Leathernecks Facts
Robert Ryan was cast by director Nicholas Ray because he had been a boxer in college and believed that he was the only actor that could play opposite John Wayne and "kick Wayne's ass."
This film is about marine pilots fighting in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Guadalcanal is situated in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. Its local name is Isatabu and contains the country's capital, Honiara. The island is humid and mostly made up of jungle with a surface area of 2,510 square miles or 6,500 square kilometers. Guadalcanal was named after Pedro de Ortega's home town Guadalcanal in Andalusia, Spain; de Ortega worked under Alvaro de Mendana de Neira who charted the island in 1568.
The fighter planes seen in the early part of the film are not the actual Grumman F4F Wildcat planes which were part of the Guadalcanal air campaign but Grumman F6F Hellcat planes. Hellcats were more readily available at the time the movie was made in 1951 as not many Wildcats had actually survived World War II. Moreover, Hellcats painted white and red also doubled as enemy Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter planes of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS).
The squadron's designation in the movie was VMF-247 but in the real life campaign the movie was based on the designation was VMF-223. VMA 223 stands for Marine Attack Squadron 223. This was the United States Marine Corps fixed wing attack squadron that comprised mainly AV-8B Harrier (V/STOL) jets. It has been active since 1st May 1942 and is still presently today an active air force squadron.
The film utilized actual color aerial battle footage. According to the book "Brassey's Guide to War Films", this movie utilized combat footage from newsreels of the Korean War the Korean War was fought in its entirety between 1950-1953 but the footage would be circa 1950-1951 due to the production dates of the film. Yet this is a World War II movie about the Battle of Guadalcanal which predates the Korean War.
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