Top 10 Aerial Combat Films

Here’s a list of the top aviation movies with a focus on combat, dogfights, and so much more:

10. Led Chevaliers Du Ciel (2005)

This is a 2005 French military action movie, also known internationally as Sky Fighters. As a whole, the movie was somewhat cliché, it’s the sheer scope and incredible imagery that give the movie its high level of watchability. The opening dogfight mostly lacks CGI, offering fantastic cinematography and action sequences.

9. Memphis Belle (1990)

This movie tells the true story of a B-17 crew that survived 25 successful bombing missions during WWII. The movie offers viewers a glimpse of a vintage B-17 Fortress in action- five of which were painstakingly rebuilt and reused during the making of the film, with one even crashing during filming.

8. Hell’s Angels (1930)

The movie follows the story of two brothers who joined the British Royal Flying Court in WWI. They ended up volunteering for the same risky bombing mission.

The film is known for its complex aerial battle cinematography and is today considered a landmark for early sound and color use.

7. The Dam Busters (1955)

The Dam Busters is one of the most famous British WWII films. The movie chronicles the development of the bouncing bomb as well as its subsequent deployment in the famous raid that led to the destruction of two of Germany’s strategic dams in May 1943.

6. Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is a Christopher Nolan movie that is both a critical and commercial success. The movie has a light dialogue and deliberately lacks a complex plot favoring sequences that feature constantly escalating tension.

You can see this approach being used in the opening dogfight between the Royal Air Force Spitfires and Luftwaffe dive-bombers. It’s instead focused on realism, tension, and practical effects.

5. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

The film is an Oscar-winning retelling of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It’s a dual-perspective movie favoring its rigorous attention to historical detail.

Told from both Japanese and American points of view, it lays out the precise chain of events on what happened during the day of the bombing. Overall, it’s a great watch for history buffs with numerous scenes of WWII planes, dogfights, bombing runs and so much more.

4. Battle of Britain (1969)

The effort for gathering several Hurricanes, Messerschmitts, Spitfires, and Heinkels for this movie is well worthwhile. The film brings the infamous WWII battle to the big screen, the Battle of Britain is a highly regarded movie for the best aerial fight scenes ever filmed at the time and a brilliant plot to boost.

3. Wings (1927)

A silent film set in WWI, the film became the standard to which future aviation movies would be held for its innovative aerial shooting depiction of flight and dogfights. Around 300 pilots were involved in shooting the film including some from the US Army Air Corps. Wings went on to win the first-ever Oscar for Best Picture and Best Effects.

2. Top Gun (1986)

No aviation film list would be ever complete without this 80s classic. The movie follows Maveric as he goes through training at the Naval Fighter Weapon School. Abundant with airborne stunts and well-executed dogfights against a fictional Russian MiG fighter, it offers viewers an array of electrifying action.

1. Twelve O-Clock High (1949)

This film takes advantage of the still available B-17s and extensive combat footage adding a sense of authenticity to the flight scenes. Based on actual people and events the film is all about leadership and command and it is about airplanes. It also looks closely at the psychological price leaders must pay for sending men to their deaths.