a5c7b9f00b The story of 'The Millionaires' Unit' is about a group of Yale college students who form a private air militia to learn to fly in preparation for WWI. The First Yale Unit became the founding squadron of the US Naval Air Reserve. They become the first to fly and the first to die for the US in the Great War. Over six years of development and production, the film crew has worked closely with Unit family members, unearthing archival treasures in small and major archives in the US and Europe. Filming occurred up and down the Eastern Seaboard and in England, France, Belgium and New Zealand. The film will be complete this year in time for commemoration of the WWI centennial.
The Millionaires' Unit - U.S. Naval Aviators in the First World War tells the dramatic, true story of a group of Yale college students who took the initiative to learn to fly in preparation for America's entry into the Great War. Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Dern (grandnephew of one of the aviators), and filmed in the U.S., England, France, Belgium and New Zealand, the film charts the romantic, little-known story of the origins of American airpower and features thrilling dogfighting sequences filmed air-to-air with original WW1 planes. One hundred years ago these daring young men became the first to fly for the United States in WW1, some of them making the ultimate sacrifice.