The Lost Squadron is a 1932 American pre-Code drama, action, film starring Richard Dix, Mary Astor, and Robert Armstrong, with Erich von Stroheim and Joel McCrea in supporting roles, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.

The Lost Squadron was the first RKO production to carry the screen credit "Executive Producer, David O. Selznick".

Pilots Captain "Gibby" Gibson and his close friend "Red" spend the last hours of World War I in battle in the air.

They then join fellow pilot and comrade "Woody" Curwood and their mechanic Fritz in a promise to stick together, a toast and a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne", before returning home to an uncertain future.

Years later, Gibby, Red and Fritz ride a boxcar to Hollywood to look for Woody and find work in lean times.

He sabotages the aircraft Gibby is to fly for a dangerous stunt, secretly applying acid to some control wires, not only out of jealousy but also to add to the realism of his film.

That night, after Woody's body is taken away, Gibby telephones the police to say that the accident he reported earlier may be a murder, but Red interrupts him.

As executive producer, Selznick fired director Paul Sloane and replaced him with George Archainbaud, and increased the film's budget to include more spectacular action sequences.

Principal photography halted during the production as the RKO studio executives, including Selznick, decided to re-shoot the final scene to heighten the action of the climax, with a new ending written.

[4] Utilizing the Hollywood fleet of war surplus aircraft, the production featured many famous stunt flyers and their mounts, including Grace, Art Goebel, Leo Nomis and Frank Clarke.

Contemporary reviews were generally favorable with Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times critic, calling it "... an excellent melodrama, ably directed" and "... a story about aviators which can boast of a rich vein of originality and clever dialogue.