Which John Ford film is a biopic of naval aviator Frank Wead?

The John Ford film that dramatizes naval aviator Frank Wead’s life is *The Wings of Eagles*.

Released in 1957, the film stars John Wayne as Frank “Spig” Wead, a pioneering naval aviator who later became a screenwriter. It follows Wead’s efforts to prove the military value of naval aviation, his paralysis after a household accident, and his later writing career.

Ford had been a friend of Wead, who died in 1947. The film was based partly on Wead’s writing, including “We Plaster the Japs,” published in *The American Magazine* in 1944. Ford also appears indirectly: Ward Bond plays John Dodge, a character representing the director.

A common mix-up is *They Were Expendable*, another Ford-associated naval film in which Wayne appeared. Wead wrote or helped write that 1945 war drama, but it is not his biopic. *The Wings of Eagles* also blends biography with patriotic aviation history and contains some historical inaccuracies.