Air Cadet is a 1951 American drama war film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Stephen McNally, Gail Russell, Alex Nicol and Richard Long.

[2] [Note 1] The film had a small early role for 26-year-old Rock Hudson and a scene with future astronaut Gus Grissom.Walt Carver, Russ Coulter, Jerry Connell and former U.S. Army Sgt.

The rest of the group of trainees, including Czanoczek, who wanted to fly B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, progress to advanced training on jet aircraft at Williams Air Force Base.

Janet finally reconciles with her husband, who is asked by his former rival to pin on his aviator wings, signifying Coulter's graduation as a fighter pilot.

[3] Before he became widely known as an astronaut, Gus Grissom was an extra who is briefly seen early in the film as a U.S. Air Force candidate for the Randolph flight school.

[8] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "Let it be said that the course of training is stimulating only when the silvery jets are keening through the wild, blue yonder or dazzling the eye in tight formation, barrel rolls or "lazy eights."

"[10] In From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema, Michael Paris reviewed Air Cadet, writing: "The feature offered little that was new, and, indeed, owed a considerable debt to the earlier I Wanted Wings (1941).