An airborne look back at 1940s Coronado

It's rare when I'll carve out time on the weekend to just chill out and throw a movie in the DVD player. I normally can't sit still long enough. But when the rain on Sunday trapping me indoors with my kids, I found myself in desperate need of entertainment. So it was quite convenient that I had a DVD sitting on my desk that Bo Bucklew had loaned to me a few weeks back. I needed to watch it and get it back to him.

The movie, DIVE BOMBER, was originally released in 1941 and starred Errol Flynn and Fred MacMurray, in what was billed as, "A thrilling new saga of the skies!" The movie is the story of Naval flight surgeons looking for solutions to aeromedical issues faced by Naval aviators.

When Bo gave it to me, he was all excited because he had finally found a copy of the movie through some obscure online site. He enthusiastically insisted I needed to see it, but not necessarily because of the story it tells about Naval aviation. Instead, it just so happens the movie was filmed in large part, right here in Coronado, and many of the scenes provide some interesting aerial views of our little community from "back in the day.

Formations of propeller driven fighters and training aircraft fly over the Spanish Bight, that once separated Coronado from North Island. They zip along Glorietta Bay and the Silver Strand, void of many structures with the notable exception being the Boat House. And of course, there's a flyby along the beach in front of the Hotel Del. Note how quaint the beach and the Del's surrounding property appears.

While the storyline isn't "thrilling" and the acting isn't Academy Award material AND it seems EVERYONE throughout the movie has a cigarette in their mouth, it's still awfully cool to look back....