Why the hero was made a "Flying Ace" I don't know. The only black American flyer in the Great War was never allowed into the U.S. forces and so flew for the French.
But, so what? The hero here looks both heroic and like a flyer, and he and his one-legged buddy get back home just in time to help solve a robbery.
The one-legger, playing a character known as Peg, is Steve "Peg" Reynolds and I think he steals the movie: Just watching him scurry around on his left leg and crutch is alone enough to make a viewer want to see this movie.
An introductory title card mentions all the players are "colored artists," and they truly are artists. Perhaps not great, still all are competent or better, all are worthy of more and better parts, and that they mostly didn't get more chances speaks badly of the motion picture business.
Florida was in competition for movie production with California for a while, and such big stars as Oliver Hardy began their careers there. So the players of "The Flying Ace" could and should have gone on to bigger and better billings, perhaps especially Kathryn Boyd.
She was cute, fun to watch just walk into and out of a scene, and visually charming. It was easy to understand why one of the villains was so taken with her, and that the hero decided to stay around to get to know her better.
That hero, Laurence (here "Lawrence") Criner, kept acting through 1950 and "The Jackie Robinson Story," racking up 27 credits. As the "Ace," he did most of his acting with his arm, but somehow still came across as a believable strong leading man.
(Ironic historical note: In one movie, his character was "Bull Connors," awfully close to "Bull Connor," the public safety commissioner of Birmingham, denounced for his acts against civil rights demonstrators, and later a Democrat member of the Alabama legislature.)
The production company, the Norman Film Manufacturing Company, was apparently Richard Norman, who wrote, produced, and directed "The Flying Ace," and I think he showed enough ability here, except for the static camera, he could have made many more movies. In fact, he could have taught a few lessons to Oscar Micheaux.
Since Mr. Micheaux seemed to be better at raising money for film production, and Mr. Norman was better at creating and producing moving pictures, they would probably have been a team we'd all be cheering these decades later.
"The Flying Ace" is not a great movie. It can never be considered a classic, but it is a fascinating bit of motion picture history. I recommend you watch it because it's a creation of a little-known production company, with little-known cast and crew, in a state barely known for movie production. It's a real horizon widener.