Director Howard Hawks, who was a pilot in the US Army during World War I, flew in the battle scenes as a German pilot.
Remade eight years later with Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Basil Rathbone, using an almost identical script.
Multiple characters use the phrase "going west" in the film. "Going west" has largely fallen out of common use, but at one time it was a euphemism for someone going to their death. It is generally assumed that the phrase refers to the sun setting in the west.
When the WB library was sold to Associated Artists in 1956 for television broadcast, the title was changed to 'Flight Commander' , which is the name of the book from which it was adapted, in order to avoid confusion with the similarly titled 1938 re-make The Dawn Patrol (1938). Perhaps for that same purpose, it still retains its new title in the Turner Classic Films Library, and in most cable and other off screen guides and information sources.
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