I Wanted Wings is a 1941 American drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and based on a book by Lieutenant Beirne Lay Jr.

The pilot, Second Lieutenant Jefferson Young III, is accused of having an unauthorized civilian passenger on board and charged accordingly for disobeying orders.

The son of a wealthy Long Island businessman, Jeff joins the United States Army Air Corps.

He offers to take her to Mexico, but Al threatens to expose her past in order to make her persuade Jeff to go back to the base.

When their old mentor and the unit's commander, Captain Mercer, finds out about Al, he starts working to get him reinstated as an officer candidate and pilot.

Then Sally shows up, begging Al for help, saying she is wanted for the murder of her gangster friend, a crime she admits she committed.

[5] The United States Army Air Corps provided 1,160 aircraft, 1,050 cadets, 450 officers and instructors and 2,543 enlisted men for the film.

[6] During rehearsal, Veronica Lake's hair fell over her eye, leading to the famous hairstyle that helped make her a star.

[8] The early series Boeing B-17B bombers from the 19th Bomb Group, March Field, were also prominently utilized in the final aerial sequence.

[9] I Wanted Wings, released when the U.S. was still neutral in World War II, was well received as the first film to promote the then little-known Army Air Corps in anticipation of the necessary aviation training to come.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times noted that "Paramount set out to exalt the spirit and efficiency of the program whereby hundreds of keen American youngsters are now being trained to fly—as military pilots, firstly, and as the nucleus of a future nation of winged men... this cinematic salute to the Army Air Corps and to the young men who are entering it today is a vastly exciting motion picture and a dependable inspiration to the youth of the land.

This was "the first movie that introduced the American public to the importance of training airmen for the defense of the United States in a war many recognized as coming," his widow Sylvia reported when she donated his papers to the University of Iowa.

She doesn’t appear until more than half-way through but it’s a spectacular entrance – singing in a nightclub under a spotlight – and she lifts the entire movie: pint-sized, seductive, mischievous, with a delectable voice and mien.