[1] Policeman Jon Davis (Richard Arlen) informs "Foxy" Pattis (Chester Morris) at his shooting gallery, that his criminal father has died.

He later befriends a young Texas gunnery candidate, Sandy (Jimmy Lydon), whose father was an airman killed at Hickam Field during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During a bombing mission against the Japanese, however, he makes the ultimate sacrifice in trying to protect the other crew members when the bomber is shot down behind enemy lines.

[6] Principal photography for Aerial Gunner by the Paramount Pictures Pine-Thomas Productions unit took place from October 21 to mid-November 1942.

[10] With the assistance of the USAAF, aerial scenes featured North American T-6 Texan and Beech AT-11 Kansan trainers at Harlingen Air Force Base, and Lockheed B-34 Lexington bombers.

The use of operational aircraft lent an air of authenticity to this low-budget B film feature, although a number of ground scenes that were later added had to rely on studio rear projection work.

[14] Bosley Crowther completely disagreed in his review for The New York Times; he dismissed the effort as nothing more than "... heroics for the bumpkins in one-syllable clichés.

There are a few interesting sequences in it of training at an aerial gunnery school and some routine, but always pretty pictures of planes climbing up and setting down.