The accident occurs when the aircraft are returning from delivering the admiral to his flagship the Saratoga before the squadron embarks. Griffin loses an arm following a mid-air collision at night. Ann leaves upset and will not listen to Steve's denials. Unaware that Ann is Steve's fiancée and not simply a girl he is trying to impress, Windy bribes an old acquaintance, Lulu, to pretend to be Steve's outraged lover. When Steve's sweetheart, Ann Mitchell, visits him, he proposes marriage to her, but Windy uses a practical joke to get even with Steve. Windy is dressed down by Duke when the officer sees the punch. Feelings turn bitter when Steve contradicts Windy's explanation of the accident and Windy punches him in resentment. The chiefs engage in friendly rivalry until the squadron practices a new dive-bombing technique and Steve becomes a hero, saving the base from being accidentally bombed by climbing out on the wing of his dive bomber to hold in place a bomb that failed to release. Griffin and his second-in-command, Lieutenant 'Duke' Johnson, agree that Nelson is the best candidate to replace Windy as he ponders retirement.

Windy is saved from arrest, however, when Lieutenant Commander Jack Griffin, skipper of the squadron, intervenes on his behalf. Windy, notorious for using his fists to enforce discipline, is charged by local police with wrecking a Turkish bath. He loses his five-year title of 'champion machine gunner' after young C.P.O. Leading Chief Petty Officer 'Windy' Riker is a veteran aerial gunner of a Navy Helldiver dive bomber and the leading chief of Fighting Squadron One, about to go to Panama aboard the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier.

An uncredited Robert Young appears near the end of the film in a speaking role as Graham, a pilot. Other actors appearing include Conrad Nagel, Dorothy Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau, and Marie Prevost. Four years later, Gable was billed over Beery in the lavish epic China Seas, one of only four films during the sound era in which Beery did not receive top billing. For Gable, Hell Divers was not a pleasant experience since he was again billed beneath Beery, an actor he personally disliked. Gable had appeared in a minor supporting role in another Beery film, The Secret Six, in April 1931. Hell Divers was officially Gable's first 'starring' role and filmed before he grew his trademark mustache. The film, made with the cooperation of the United States Navy, features considerable footage of flight operations aboard the Navy's second aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga, including dramatic shots of takeoffs and landings filmed from the Curtiss F8C-4 Helldiver dive bombers after which the movie was named. Hell Divers is a 1932 American pre-Code black-and-white film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers in early naval aviation.

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