Movies Like Thunder Birds
If you liked Thunder Birds (1942), a drama and romance movie directed by William A. Wellman, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.
- 1
Wings (1927)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and warTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the…
- 2
Always (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also romance and dramaThe spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.
- 3
The History of Love (2016)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and romanceThe story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
- 4
Strategic Air Command (1955)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and warAir Force reservist Lt. Col. Robert "Dutch" Holland is recalled into active duty at the peak of his professional baseball career.
- 5
Battleground (1949)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and warMembers of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their…
- 6
A Guy Named Joe (1944)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and romanceA cocky U.S. Army Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female flier. After he's killed on a mission, he's sent back to Earth by a heavenly General with a new assignment.
- 7
The Sound Barrier (1952)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and romanceA young RAF pilot tests his father-in-law’s prototype supersonic aircraft to the limit, at a time of intense development in the field of aviation, just as commercial jet airliners are about to enter service.
- 8
Flying Tigers (1942)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and warJim Gordon commands a unit of the famed Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group which fought the Japanese in China before America's entry into World War II. Gordon must send his outnumbered band of fighter pilots…
- 9
The First of the Few (1942)
★ 6.7/10Also war and dramaThis 1942 fictionalized biopic chronicles the true story of how two of the most remarkable men in aviation history - visionary Spitfire designer R.J. Mitchell and his test pilot Geoffrey Crisp - designed a streamlined…
- 10
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and romanceIt's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
- 11
Hell's Angels (1930)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and warAs the Great War breaks out in Europe, English brothers Roy and Monte enlist in the Royal Flying Corps to fight for king and country, while their Oxford College friend Karl is ordered back to Germany. As a love…
- 12
Taking Chance (2009)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and warLt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.
- 13
The Last Rifleman (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and warA WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his…
- 14
The Blue Max (1966)
★ 6.8/10Also war and dramaA young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.
- 15
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and romanceThe life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
- 16
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and romanceMiddle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady…
- 17
Battle of Britain (1969)
★ 6.8/10Also war and dramaIn 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing an attempted Nazi invasion.
- 18
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and warA team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
- 19
Emperor (2012)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and warAs the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years…
- 20
The Longest Ride (2015)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and romanceThe lives of a young couple intertwine with a much older man as he reflects back on a lost love while he's trapped in an automobile crash.