Give Us Wings (1940) is a Universal film starring the Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys.
Plot[]
Tom, Pig, String, Ape, and Rap, collectively known as "The Dead End Kids", are learning to become aeronautical mechanics in the National Youth Administration Work Program plant. The Kids really want to fly and think they have learned enough to become pilots.
Their dreams of flight will not come true because the Civil Aeronautics Authority flight school requires them to have completed high school, something none of them have achieved. Seeking out a flight school, the Kids go to work for unscrupulous crop dusting operator Arnold Carter. Quickly realizing that pilot training is unlikely, Carter's manager, Mr. York puts them to work as mechanics.
Carter's aircraft are old and his only pilot, "Tex" Austin feels that the boys are far too inexperienced to fly, but Carter is desperate to keep the crop dusting operation going, and after Tex crashes, the boys are forced to take over. York finally agrees that the boys, except for Rap who is terrified of flying after witnessing the Tex's crash, can fly, and they take to the air.
Aware of the dangers of its tall groves of trees, York refuses to dust a particular field but Carter convinces Rap to do the job. While flying over the trees, Rap crashes to his death. Losing his nerve, Carter tries to make a getaway in an aircraft, but Tom follows in another craft and forces him to earth with a dose of dust. He is met by the other boys, who turn him over to the authorities.