The Mail Pilot
Mickey the mail pilot is entrusted with a chest of money. He battles rain and snow, but his biggest battle is against Pete, who has a plane equipped with a machine gun and a harpoon cannon. Mickey’s plane quickly loses its wings and propeller to Pete’s armaments, but he improvises a helicopter blade with a clothes-drying rack, then, when that gives way, a replacement prop from a windmill. At this point, Pete harpoons him, and Mickey drags Pete through a bell tower, demolishing Pete’s plane. Mickey delivers the money to Minnie and Pete to the authorities.
Mickey as an airmail pilot in the era when airmail pilots were genuine popular heroes. The dogfight with Pete is one of the more elaborate action sequences the studio built in the early 1930s, and the aviation detail reflects how glamorous the subject was at the time.
Pete attacks with a machine gun and a harpoon cannon; the aerial combat is more violent than usual.