8 Air Force Movies and Shows to Stream for its 79th Birthday

The United States Air Force celebrates its 79th birthday on Sept. 18, the date it was established as a separate military service in 1947.

The USAF’s history goes back much further. American military aviation went through the Army Signal Corps, the Army Air Corps and the Army Air Forces before the National Security Act reorganized the military after World War II.

This line of succession provides viewers with nearly a century of stories concerning bomber crews, test pilots, nuclear deterrence, combat rescue and remotely piloted aircraft.

To mark the Air Force’s birthday, the following eight movies and television programs from different periods in its history make up this list. Streaming availability information is up-to-date as of September 2026, but availability may vary by subscription plan.

1. Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

Available to rent: Amazon Prime Video

Gregory Peck plays Brig. Gen. Frank Savage, who takes command of an American heavy-bomber group struggling in England during World War II.

Even though the 918th Bomb Group is fictional, the film was influenced by the experiences of the screenwriters Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr., who were both veterans of the Army Air Forces. Its careful depiction of combat fatigue, morale and the pressure exerted on commanders contributed to it becoming a regular feature in military leadership discussions for a long time after it was released.

The combat footage and aircraft are memorable, but the movie’s lasting subject is the cumulative psychological cost of sending crews back into the air.

2. Strategic Air Command (1955)

Streaming on: Prime Video and History Vault; free with ads on YouTube

James Stewart portrays a man who is both a professional baseball player and a reservist with the Air Force, and he is called back to active duty in the early years of the Cold War. His call to service means he has to give up his civilian career and obtain qualifications to fly the massive Convair B-36 Peacemaker.

Stewart had a high degree of credibility when it came to this particular role. During World War II, he carried out combat missions as a bomber pilot with the Army Air Forces. He then remained in the Air Force Reserve, finally retiring from active duty as a brigadier general.

The film also includes remarkable aerial footage of the B-36 and B-47 Stratojet, which makes it an important visual record of the Strategic Air Command’s early bomber force.

3. The Right Stuff (1983)

Streaming on: YouTube free with ads; available to rent elsewhere

Before NASA sent Americans into orbit, military test pilots were already pushing experimental aircraft to their limits over California’s high desert.

Based on Tom Wolfe’s book, the film follows Chuck Yeager and his quest to break the sound barrier. It also follows the selection of the Mercury Seven astronauts. Some of these pioneering astronauts, including Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom and Deke Slayton, came from the Air Force.

The film explores the hazardous culture of postwar flight testing and continues through the early years of the Space Race. During this period, Air Force pilots played a major role in shaping the experience and traditions American astronauts inherited.

4. Iron Eagle (1986)

Streaming on: Philo and YouTube TV

A teenager stealing two F-16s to rescue his captured father bears little resemblance to an authorized Air Force operation. That has never stopped Iron Eagle from developing a devoted following.

Jason Gedrick plays Doug Masters, an aspiring pilot who teams up with retired Air Force Col. Charles “Chappy” Sinclair, played by Louis Gossett Jr. Their unauthorized rescue mission runs on improbable tactics, cassette-tape rock music, and the assumption that a civilian teenager can master a fighter jet.

Iron Eagle, released the same year as Top Gun, served as the Air Force-themed alternative for viewers who preferred F-16s and daring rescue missions.

5. By Dawn’s Early Light (1990)

Streaming on: Prime Video

This HBO thriller imagines an unauthorized nuclear missile launch triggering a rapidly escalating confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union.

Much of the story unfolds aboard an Air Force B-52 bomber and an airborne command post. Powers Boothe, Rebecca De Mornay and James Earl Jones lead an ensemble portraying aircrews and commanders trying to determine whether they can stop a retaliatory strike before political and military safeguards collapse.

The movie arrived near the end of the Cold War, but its depiction of airborne nuclear command and control remains one of Hollywood’s more unsettling portraits of the Air Force’s deterrence mission.

6. Good Kill (2015)

Streaming on: Paramount+ Premium; free with ads on Pluto TV and Plex

Ethan Hawke plays Maj. Thomas Egan, an Air Force pilot who has shifted from flying combat aircraft abroad to remotely operating armed drones from Nevada.

The physical danger of the cockpit has been replaced by a different strain. Egan conducts lethal missions during the day before driving home to his family, with almost no separation between the battlefield and ordinary domestic life.

Good Kill examines the moral injury, surveillance and command pressures surrounding remotely piloted warfare. Its questions have only become more relevant as drones assume a larger role in American military operations.

7. The Last Full Measure (2019)

Available to: Rent or purchase through Amazon Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home

The Last Full Measure tells the story of Airman 1st Class William Pitsenbarger, a pararescueman who descended from a rescue helicopter during a brutal 1966 battle in Vietnam.

Pitsenbarger treated wounded soldiers and helped move them to evacuation helicopters. When the final helicopter departed, he remained with the soldiers on the ground and was killed during the fighting. He was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, which was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in 2000.

The film surrounds Jeremy Irvine’s portrayal of Pitsenbarger with a veteran cast that includes Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson and Peter Fonda.

8. Masters of the Air (2024)

Streaming on: Apple TV+

Produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, Masters of the Air follows the 100th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force during World War II.

The nine-part series depicts airmen flying daylight bombing missions over occupied Europe, where frostbite, mechanical failures, flak and German fighters could destroy a B-17 before it reached its target. The 100th’s heavy losses earned it the enduring nickname the “Bloody Hundredth.”

The series predates the establishment of the independent Air Force, but its Army Air Forces crews represent an essential part of the service’s heritage. Their missions helped define the culture and combat history inherited by the Air Force in 1947.