Lots of those early movie aviators had WWI combat aviation experience. The earlier Polish Army aviator thread mentioned that the King Kong flyers were American combat aviators.
I remember taking what appear now to be suicidal risks riding motocycles. Suspect that these aviators had similar motivations.
Eventually I came to realize that risk taking for no real reason meant nothing.
Never did fit into "society" after that war. Cranky drunken vets didn't interest me, either.
Morning Iris7.
I'm with you on the "cranky, drunken Vets". Never made a lot of sense, I knew some who almost seemed to have made a career out of that.