The film stars Fredric March and Cary Grant as Royal Flying Corps fighter pilots.

In World War I, American born pilots Lt. Jerry Young (Fredric March) and Lt. Mike "Slug" Richards (Jack Oakie) join Britain's Royal Flying Corps and are assigned to the dangerous mission of reconnaissance over enemy lines.

On his first mission with Jerry, the new recruit, Lt. John Stevens (Kenneth Howell) is shot and then falls out of the airplane during inverted flight during a dogfight with Voss (Robert Seiter), a famous German ace.

[1] The period-accurate aircraft assembled for the film included five Thomas-Morse Scouts, four Nieuport 28s, two de Havilland DH-4s, a Curtiss JN-4 and assorted post-World War I types used as "set dressing".

The aircraft were all leased from the Garland Lincoln Flying Services, a company that provided aviation equipment for film productions.

[1] The Eagle and the Hawk was well received and critical reaction was extremely positive, characterizing the film as "... one of the better World War I dramas produced during the 1930s.

"[8] Reviewer Mordaunt Hall at The New York Times, described the film as "... a vivid and impressive account of the effect of battles in the clouds upon an American ace.

Here is a drama told with a praiseworthy sense of realism, and the leading rôle is portrayed very efficiently by Fredric March.