He faces a deadly foe, Chester Van Arland (Ray Ripley), the leader of the "Death's Head Squadron", intent on stealing a $20,000 shipment of gold that will be on a midnight flight to Washington.

Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios, noted the success of The Grim Game (1919), starring Harry Houdini, that featured a spectacular aerial sequence of an actual midair collision.

Besides being used as a base for flying, Locklear's Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" aircraft was also mounted on a raised wooden platform at the airfield in order to film closeups.

[9] During a promotion for The Great Air Robbery, an Essex Motors touring car, built to replicate a 600-pound bomber, was driven through the streets of Omaha, Nebraska to the Moon Theater entranceway.

The melodrama's use of airplanes for midnight mail deliveries, highway, or rather highair, robberies, and battles between the forces of law and lawlessness adds excitement.

Unwilling to go back to the air show circuit, Locklear wanted to continue his Hollywood career, and in April 1920, he was signed to star in The Skywayman (1920).