"The Boy" (Lloyd) is an idle playboy and heir to $20,000,000, relaxing at an exclusive resort. When he sees "The Girl" (Mildred Davis), surrounded by a flock of admirers, he suddenly asks her to marry him. Taken aback, she sends him to get the approval of her father, a tough, hardworking steel magnate. The girl's father knows and disapproves of the Boy's indolence, and demands that he first get a job to prove that he can do something. The Boy sees a recruiting poster and applies to join the United States Navy. When the magnate decides to take a long cruise on his yacht, he tells his daughter to bring along her friends. She invites the Boy, but he finds he cannot get out of his three year enlistment.
After an air raid exercise in Los Angeles involving 18 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, one of them goes down in the desert on its way back to base. Mysteriously, the dead body of a woman is found in the wreck. The pilot, Jefferson Young III (Ray Milland), is accused of having an unauthorized passenger on board and charged accordingly for disobeying orders. Before the court martial decides on a ruling, they review Jeff's military background and history.
The film follows a young Japanese bombardier Lt. Koji Kitami (Yosuke Natsuki) aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu and his participation in two battles in the Pacific during World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. His faith in his leaders and his country remains strong through the successful campaigns of the early war, but is severely shaken by the disastrous events during the battle of Midway.
During World War II, Lt. Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon), an expert yachtsman in civilian life, now based at Townsville, Queensland, Australia, is surprised to be assigned command of a sailing ship, the USS Echo. The only crew member who knows how to work a ship with sails is eager young Ensign Tommy Hanson (Ricky Nelson), who cost Crandall a yacht race with a mistake before the war.
Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la jeune Alexandra Bastegar, blessée et épuisée, est recueillie par un groupe de soldats américains. Cette femme est en réalité une espionne nazie qui tente d'infiltrer la patrouille et de se procurer de précieuses informations pour ses supérieurs...
In this voice over (Ronald Reagan) reenactment documentary, we follow the events of Captain Hewitt T. Wheless career as an bomber pilot for the US Army Air Corps during World War II. The story ranges from when Wheless joined in 1938 just before the war, through theoretical and practical training and education at Randolph and March Fields. He piloted a bombing mission in the Philippines early in the war, which resulted in his bomber plane being severely damaged after being attacked by a total of eighteen Japanese fighter planes in the air. A recording of a speech made by President Roosevelt, praising the pilot's extraordinary service, is highlighted. Captain Wheless at the end of the film gives a speech at the Boeing factory in Seattle, complimenting the workers.
In 1941, at a staff meeting in Washington, D.C., two officers of the U.S. Army Air Corps (and old friends) debate the importance of bombardiers. Major "Chick" Davis (Pat O'Brien) argues that a bombardier, using the top secret American bombsight will be the "spearhead of our striking force." After a year of observing the Royal Air Force fight the German Luftwaffe, Capt. "Buck" Oliver (Randolph Scott) is not convinced a bomber can get "so close that a bomb can't miss" and that new pilots are the priority. Davis challenges Oliver to a "bombing duel" to test their respective points of view. Oliver, using a dive bomber, misses the stationary target with all his bombs, while Davis, bombing from 20,000 feet in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, succeeds in hitting his target with his first bomb.
Pendant la Guerre de Corée, trois Marines, David Chatfield, Skip Roth, et Desmond McCaffrey, bénéficient d'une permission au Japon. Ils y vivent diverses aventures sentimentales, avant d'être rappelés au front.
The film takes place aboard an American submarine in the Pacific during World War II. The sub's commander (Brady) is ordered to stop and pick up an underwater demolition team led by Lt. Hayes (Hunter), whose mission is to locate and destroy a U.S. submarine sunken in a lagoon off Bikini Atoll before the Japanese are able to raise it and capture the advanced radar system on board.
Commander Key Weedon (Gig Young), a pilot with the U.S. Navy, is sent to investigate when an S.O.S. emergency signal is spotted in the San Diego region. He discovers it is the doing of a six-year-old boy, Grover Martin, whose uncle Simon (Red Buttons), an airline pilot, gave the boy a blinker light as a gift.
Lt. John Witkowski (Dornan) and his buddy, Lt. York, arrive at George Air Force Base in Southern California to train to fly the F-104 Starfighter, with special emphasis on the complicated mid-air refueling maneuver. Witkowski's Congressman father frequently calls him, concerned about the safety of fighter aircraft, and wants his son to be in the Bomber wing like he was himself in World War II. Witkowski also finds romance in an Iowa girl he is set up with. Witkowski impresses his senior officers with his progressing skills and is among those selected to be transferred to a unit in Europe.
In April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eight American aircrew made up of the crews from two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross (Dana Andrews), becomes the leader of the captives. Initially, the men are picked up by a local government official who is a Chinese collaborator in a Wang Jingwei controlled section of China. The Chinese official delivers the Americans to the Imperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at the Shanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the commanding officer, General Mitsubi (Richard Loo) refuses to allow Karl Kappel (Torben Meyer), the Swiss Consul to contact Washington.
At age 34, Army Air Force pilot Major Robert Lee Scott Jr. (Dennis Morgan) is considered too old to fly in combat, but he is recruited and volunteers to fly in a secret bombing mission from the Philippines against Tokyo, the Japanese capital. When the mission is cancelled after his arrival in India because of the fall of the Philippines, Scott is promoted to Colonel and is then assigned to fly transport aircraft. He flies dangerous, unescorted missions over The Hump from Burma to China in order to supply aviation gasoline and other much-needed supplies to the three squadrons of the American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers.
The film is divided in three parts. The first takes place prior to the war where cocky Philadelphia steel worker and "Man's man" Al Schmid (John Garfield) despises the idea of marriage and losing his independence until he meets his match in Ruth Hartley (Eleanor Parker). Ruth takes no nonsense from him and impresses Schmid by enjoying a hunting trip he takes her on.
During World War II, Chief Aviation Pilot Ned Trumpet (Wallace Beery) is in charge of a dirigible at Lakehurst, New Jersey naval base. "Old Gas Bag" brags about his "son" and realizes that he will need someone to impersonate his fictional son. Trumpet finds Jess Weaver (Tom Drake), a young disabled man, arranging for an operation to fix his legs, injured in a riding accident. Afterward, Weaver goes along with the deception and soon earns his Navy wings and commission as an Ensign. While on a submarine patrol mission, his "father" orders an unauthorized and premature attack on a German submarine, (orders have been sent to break off the attack, the "father" does not convey the orders) but the youngster's bomb misses and the submarine fires back, hitting the airship. Trumpet takes over the controls and sinks the submarine, but Weaver faces a court-martial for disobeying orders but the older man takes the blame for his actions. Young Weaver is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he gives the DFC ribbon to his "father." Leaving Lakehurst, young Weaver attends pilots training at NAS Pensacola.