U.S. airman Ed Hardin pilots a damaged P-47 Thunderbolt toward a perilous but successful belly flop landing at his fighter-group base in the English countryside. The battered aircraft may never wing into the skies again. Hardin will. "Notify the taxpayer to get me another one," he quips. Filmmaker Raoul Walsh (Objective, Burma!) is at the controls of this keep-'em-flying Technicolor adventure, augmenting thunderous sky battles with actual wartime footage. Edmond O'Brien portrays Hardin, who tempers his flyboy recklessness when the men of the squadron are entrusted to his leadership. And a former chauffeur for Walsh makes his uncredited screen debut. His name: Rock Hudson.