Abbott and Costello follow up their first two service films ("Buck Privates" and "In the Navy") with this comedy offering where they enter the U.S. Army Air Corps with fellow "woman hater" Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). Foran portrays a sideshow stunt pilot whose flying escapades usually get him in trouble, and his latest acrobatics get him fired from his job. With his buddies in tow, all three wind up at the Cal-Aero Academy where the fun begins.

Notably absent from this Abbott and Costello installment are the Andrews Sisters and Shemp Howard. The singing duties are picked up by a trio of supporting stars, starting with Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce) who gives us "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". Martha Raye offers a spirited rendition of "Peg Foot Pete" and even Dick Foran gets into the act with "Let's Keep 'Em Flying".

Martha Raye is a welcome addition to the cast, actually portraying a pair of sisters, Gloria and Barbara Phelps. The lunch counter scene introduces her (them?) when Blackie (Bud) and Heathcliff (Lou) order a turkey sandwich between them. Raye characterizes each sister with a different attitude and voice, and really keeps the boys on their toes. As the film progresses, the sisters strike up a romantic interest with the boys, with Heathcliff hilariously missing all the romantic signals sister Gloria throws his way.

The movie wouldn't be complete without some sort of Abbott and Costello mayhem, this time out it's provided by a runaway torpedo and a barnstorming airplane finale where Heathcliff spends most of his time outside the plane hanging on for dear life.

By film's end, Foran's character gets to redeem himself by coming to the aid of a parachutist in trouble, who's chute remained attached to the plane he was making his jump from. Grounded from flying earlier in the movie, Jinx disobeys orders once again by hijacking his own plane and charging to the rescue to save the man's life. Come to think of it though, when Jinx entered the Air Corps, how was it that his own personal plane signed up for the hitch too?

Their fourth starring vehicle of 1941, "Keep 'Em Flying" shows the wear and tear of the duo's busy year. The films production values are more skimpy; evidently by filming on location at Cal-Aero in Ontario, California, the producers felt they could cut costs. This doesn't help A&C's flying sequences with their poor rear projection or the rescue sequence at the end, with all-too-obvious miniatures. The real flying stunt sequences sandwiched around them, however, are done well.

What saves the film are A&C's performances and the interplay between Costello and Martha Raye, who plays twins in the film. There are some truly funny moments, but not enough to elevate the film among their best. 6 out of 10.

Not their best, but by far not their weakest, the film provides the viewers with the duo in the Army Air Corps, or at least a training facility.

While there has been some comment on the wood and fabric airplanes in the film, filmed shortly before the U.S. got involved in World War II, many training facilities taught their students initially on such aircraft, just so they could learn the rudiments of flight. Later, the fledgling pilots would graduate to more state-of-the-art trainers.

Minor spoiler For the aero gags, the fabric airplanes worked well: in the "inverted" sequence, Costello's head wouldn't have been able to break through a metal skin.

I had this on VHS, and finally was able to locate it on DVD, in an A&C collection.