Aviation theme

I just saw two Swedish aviation films on DVD, which form a nice double bill both in theme and in title.

The First Squadron (Första Divisionen, 1941, Hasse Ekman) is a wartime film, meant to raise the spirit of the Swedish public at a time when Nazi-Germany was at the peak of its power and could have occupied Sweden without much ado, considering the sorry state of the Swedish defence, especially the air force (For example, the volunteer squadron dispatched to aid Finland against the Soviets in the Winter War 1939-1940 was made up of biplanes with open cockpits!). The aeroplanes used in the film were the most modern ones Sweden possessed at the time, B5 divebombers (license built Northrop A8, with certain modifications for the Swedish circumstances), which were already obsolete when they were taken in use. The plane was not suitable for divebombing, which explains the high number of accidents that occurred. In this film accidents, either due to technical failure or to human error are the main threat that the dutiful pilots face. The rest of the plot is made up of personal drama mostly centred on the fatherly squadron leader. The aerial shots were quite advanced for the time.

The Yellow Squadron (Gula Divisionen, 1954, Stig Olin (father of actress Lena Olin) finds us thirteen years later at the height of the Cold War, when the situation for the Swedish Air Force has changed dramatically. The bad situation during the second World War had led the government to invest heavily in aeroplane development at home, which resulted in a string of advanced jet fighters of which the SAAB J29 "Tunnan" ("flying barrel" you'll understand when you see the jet) as the first. At the time the film was made, the Swedish Air Force was the fourth most powerful in the world and the J29 was for a short while considered the best plane in its class. Given this background the tone in the film is more self-assured (even though a slight propagandistic undertone can be felt, especially in the end shots) and the plot relies mainly on the personal affairs of the pilots, although the aerial shots certainly outdo the human interaction. The special effects are not up to modern Hollywood standards, but that can hardly be expected from a small film from the 1950s.

Both films have one odd thing in common; the total lack of an enemy in the plot, due to Sweden's strict neutrality. This makes it a bit difficult for the uninformed viewer to understand the purpose of the pilots and their hardships. Especially for the 1941 film, this was easy to understand. Sweden was walking a tightrope between the Germans and the Allies and at a moment when Germany seemed invincible it was a bad idea to step on any toes. As an example, the writer of the novel Rid i Natt (also filmed in 1941) ended up on the death list of the Gestapo, for depicting the Germans in his historical novel as totalitarian oppressors ready to crush the Swedish independence. When hearing of this after the war, he, Vilhelm Moberg declared it was the greatest compliment anyone had ever made him.

Anyway, I am digressing (This is after all the film forum, not the history forum), what I intended to ask you film buffs is, if anyone can point me to other aviation flicks, preferably not from the usual suspects (read US and UK), but from more exotic origin. It would be nice to start a collection.