Drama
Reporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright take their first airplane flight. Back home in Underwood, Maryland, however, his uncle Hiram F. Jenkins, owner and editor of the local newspaper, refuses to print the story. Nicholas quits and continues to work on his own airplane, with the devoted help of his little daughter Peggy. Peggy is actually the first in her family to fly when her friends, Patrick Falconer and Scott Barnes, induce her to get inside a large kite they have made, and run with it in a field until she is airborne. The kite is caught in a tree, however, and Peggy gets a black eye. Later, Nicholas dies when his experimental airplane crashes, leaving his wife and children alone. By Peggy's adulthood, planes are capable of flying at an altitude of 11,000 feet, and speeds of nearly 100 m.p.h. Peggy continues her father's obsession with flight by helping Scott and Pat to build a plane.
Directed by
William A. Wellman
Written by
Robert Carson
Ray Milland
Scott Barnes
Fred MacMurray
Pat Falconer
Virginia Weidler
Young Peggy Ranson
Donald O'Connor
Young Pat Falconer
Evelyn Keyes
Nurse
Dennis Morgan
Galton
Andy Devine
Joe Gibbs
Jonathan Hale
Long
Porter Hall
Hiram F. Jenkins
Joan Leslie
Young Patricia Falconer
Walter Abel
Nick Ranson
Frank Mills
Mechanic
Eddie Dunn
Field Employee
Kitty Kelly
Martha Ranson
Lynne Overman
Hank Rinebow
Russell Hicks
Gen. Marlin
James Burke
J.A. Nolan
Harry Woods
Baker
Billy Bletcher
Red Cross Man
Al Hill
Mail Driver
Claire Du Brey
Edith
John Hubbard
Attendant
George Chandler
Cody
Charles Trowbridge
Alcott
David Newell
Photographer
Dell Henderson
Chairman
Jerome Storm
Reporter
Lee Phelps
Photographer
James P. Burtis
Reporter
Juanita Quigley
Patricia Falconer at Age 6
Chuck Hamilton
Photographer
Edward Earle
Officer
Syd Saylor
Jimmy
Archie Twitchell
Nelson
Willard Robertson
Col. Hadley
Paul Kruger
Reporter
Charles Williams
Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
Ethel Clayton
Woman
Pat West
Photographer
Ronald R. Rondell
Mechanic
Grace Goodall
Matron
Garry Owen
Reporter
Cheryl Walker
Nurse
Kitty McHugh
Nurse
Billy Cook
Young Scott Barnes
Jean Fenwick
Nurse
John T. Murray
Jones
Frank Clarke
Burke
Ruth Rogers
Girl
Art Rowlands
Reporter
Lucille Miller
Norma
Dolores Casey
Nurse
Louise Campbell
Peggy Ranson
Anita Randalla Berkely
Peggy's Baby
Mary Brodel
Patricia Falconer at Age 17
Jack Chapin
Sentry
Sheila Darcy
Nurse
Jane Dewey
Nurse
Lillian Dickson
Woman
Norah Gale
Nurse
Sherry Hall
Field Official
Ralph McCullough
Reporter
Willy Morris
Clerk
Franklin Parker
Mail Truck Driver
Bob Perry
Waiter
Dorothy Tennant
Mrs. Hill
Frank Tomick
Bobby Tracy
Reporter
Ethel West
Woman
Dorothy White
Nurse
Joe Whitehead
Cab Driver

Your rating