Top 10 Aerial Dogfights of All Time - A CineFix Movie List

It’s time to take to the skies for some daring fighter pilot action! Filming effective aerial action, more so than on land and sea, faces a host of unique challenges. From the early days of choreographing fighter planes to the more modern decisions about CGI and how best to employ it, staging a compelling battle in the wild blue yonder that an audience can actually track is an impressive cinematic achievement. So here are our picks for the Top 10 Aerial Dog Fights in the history of film.

From Cinema’s earliest days and even it’s very first Academy Awards, films like Wings, Aces High and The Blue Max helped define the cinematic language of the aerial dogfight. World War I and World War II eras brought some new technology to bear on the cinematic sky skuffle and established choreography that’s still used today, see also Christopher Nolan and Dunkirk, where his need to put Tom Hardy in a mask was outweighed only by the challenge of how to mount an IMAX camera on a plane from the 1940s. From Pearl Harbor (not the Michael Bay one) to the Korean War on through to the cold war made famous by Top Gun in the 1980s and into the science fiction fueled space skies of Rogue One and the rest of the Star Wars galaxy far, far away, aerial battles continue to evolve on the big screen.

This Movie List was written by Billy Jackson and Edited by Justin Donaldson.

The Picks:

10 - World War I - Wings (1927) dir. William A. Wellman, Harry d’Abbadi d’Arrast
9 - World War 2 (European Theater) - The Battle of Britain (1969) dir. Guy Hamilton
8 - World War 2 (Pacific Theater) - Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) dir. Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda
7 - International Film - Dark Blue World (2001) dir. Jan Svěrák
6 - Air to Ground - The Bridges at Toko Ri (1954) dir. Mark Robson
5 - Cold War Era - Top Gun (1986) dir. Tony Scott
4 - Animated - Area 88: Act III (1986) dir. Toriumi Hisayuki
3 - Helicopter Fights - Blue Thunder (1983) dir. John Badham
2 - Modern Era - Top Gun: Maverick (2022) dir. Joseph Kosinski
1 - The Future… err A Long Time Ago… err Science Fiction - Rogue One (2016) dir. (Gareth Edwards)

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[Smikley]

They didn't even mention the dogfight from the end of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It's LITERALLY a fight between two dogs in planes. Disappointing.

[Kyrylopysh]

I understand that two movies with Tom Cruise are many for one list, but how can you ignore that magnificent helicopter scene from Mission Impossible: Fallout?

[monad]

I just watched Top Gun: Maverick and all I can say wow. No spoilers but the final dogfight in this film is, hands down, the greatest I've ever seen. Absolutely jaw-dropping stunts and aerobatics. Pure adrenaline.

[davidmeir]

I agree.

The whole third act of Rogue One, both the ground battle and the space one is absolutely one of the most thrilling action sequence in any movies.

[dylanspeed]

Went pretty hard banging on Top Gun's accuracy before attributing it to the Air Force and not the Navy. Absolute beauty of an unforced error.

Only poking fun. Good list as always.

[AutismFamilyChannel]

Dunkirk is right up there for sure. Glad to see Top Gun Maverick on here. That had some awesome popcorn chewing action.

[gnexjeff]

I'm very pleased that Blue Thunder got its much deserved respect for its amazing aerial action.

[jakubgaecki]

Very pleased you mentioned The Expanse! The CGI may have been a bit lacking in the early seasons, but it actually got crazy good later on. Combine that with very creative tactics, great characters, and incredible realism, and you've got a winning formula. The Roci vs the Pella from season 6 is hands down the best space battle of all time, and I will die on this hill.

[WhiskyCanuck]

Rogue One is a good pick. For the space dogfights, gotta give an extra shoutout to the Battlestar Galactica reboot. The Expanse is also probably the best thought out space combat that I can recall.

[abongile]

Dunkirk dog fights were brilliantly realistic, some of the best I've seen but it's your list

[MikeTaffet]

When I saw Rogue One in theaters, I remember saying to myself that it was the best actual Star War they’d shown us since Return of the Jedi

[joeberger]

How were the aerial combat scenes in Dunkirk not in this list? Those scenes were insanely realistic.

[BigBubbaloola]

I'm so very happy that you have included Blue Thunder.

It is an underrated and mostly forgotten film.

[Okipouros]

The fact that they mentioned SDF/Macross saga, says a lot about the quality of this Channel

[fredhercmaricaubang]

DUDE, I'm so DAMN GLAD that you made this! Especially when you included Macross & Area 88! Overall, BRAVO!

[jtdavis]

Overlooked, 1982's Clint Eastwood vehicle _Firefox_ had some well done dogfight scenes.

[revolverswitch]

thank you for mentioning Patlabor's "dogfight", the buildup of everything going wrong was a masterclass in suspense. People claiming to be air traffic controllers say that it was the most intense scene they have ever watched. Also: "Wyvern, disappeared?"

[spugesdu]

Stunning omission of the "dogfight" from Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit...

[peterandersson]

Wallace and Gromit should have been in the animated category: dogs in dogfights in fairground aircraft.

[tracybrandt]

The plane design and dogfighting in Porco Rosso are absolutely breathtaking. Such a great movie!