The War Lover

Beat you to it, Sully.

- Got an alarm clock, lieutenant? - Up here.

Capt. Rickson could use an alarm clock.

Or dynamite, maybe.

Up, captain! Grab your socks.

- You blast him out. I got work. - I'll try.

Briefing's at 0500. You got 20 minutes for breakfast.

Come on, sir. Time to get up.

Briefing's at 0500. You got 20 minutes for breakfast.

All right?

Buzz, come on. Rise and shine.

Let go of that pillow!

That's my down-girl pillow.

You tell a girl, "Go ahead. No, no, honey, not with your hands."

The minute she lays her head down on that pillow....

- What time did you get in last night? - Two, 3.

I don't remember. But it was worth it.

I think.

Remember when we could get up when we pleased?

A hot breakfast waiting for us.

Not have to go out before daylight.

Get shot at by a lot of guys we don't know...

and don't like their job any better than we do.

The only trouble with this war is, it begins too early in the morning.

- Bolland, you're out of clean socks. - My apologies.

You need a personal maid.

If they didn't fence off those WAFs, I'd have me one.

Save me flushing them out of the woods every night.

Not supposed to fraternize with the natives.

It's against rules and regulations.

Rules are for sergeants.

Come on, Buzz, will you?

- What's the hurry? - We'll miss breakfast.

Bolland, sometimes I worry about your love life.

Well, don't bother.

Remember, you're not in a monastery. You're in the Air Force.

Thanks for reminding me.

Hey, come on, Buzz. Will you hurry up?

Know what else you're gonna have to learn before you're a good pilot?

How to relax.

- Hi, Marty. - Greetings.

Morning, Lynch. How's your dog?

How's Superman this morning?

Try and keep us on course for a change, huh?

- There's a dance tonight. - I'll have to call my girl.

- Where is she? - Boston. Getting home from a dance.

- Where do you bet they send us today? - Riviera for water sports.

Or Palm Springs to get a suntan.

Today's target, gentlemen, Kiel.

As you can see, a short run across the North Sea.

Kiel is important because of enemy submarine pens.

Here they are, in this inlet just south of the harbor.

Hitting these pens will protect our supply lines for Operation Torch in North Africa.

As group commander, Col. Emmet will be in the lead ship of the lead squadron.

You will take your instructions from him. Colonel.

Capt. Rickson will lead the low squadron.

Capt. Woodman, the high.

Most of the flying will be over water.

Don't get your hopes up that this will be a nice milk run.

Reconnaissance reports a flak corridor running through the target area.

And fighter attacks can be expected. Stay together.

Keep your formations tight and drop your bombs when I do.

And remember, no broken field running.

This is a team effort.

Navigators and bombardiers will remain for navigation briefing.

That's all, gentlemen.

Max, get the flak area. Come on, Bolland.

- What's the hurry? - The Body's waiting.

Well, figure it out for yourself.

- This is our seventh mission, right? - Yeah.

We average three a week for the next six weeks. That's 18, right?

- Well, 18 and seven is 25, right? - Right.

We should be home in time for the World Series.

- Farr, that's crazy figuring. - How come?

Do you know the chances of all of us coming through 25 missions alive?

- I mean, mathematically. - Don't tell us. I hate math.

Hey, Prien, that medicine's rotgut.

Why don't you take that belly of yours and have it operated on?

My stomach was all right back home.

Why didn't you leave it there instead of sticking us with it?

Hey, no one in the whole 8th Air Force drives a car like Buzz.

It looks like a woman's sewing circle. How's your stomach, Prien?

Okay, captain. Any chance of an abort?

Mother Chicken is reading the tea leaves. Bolland, check the cockpit.

- Max, check your bomb load. - Right.

- What's all this? - Overflow. Preflight okay, sir.

- Engine? - All checked out.

I was losing manifold pressure on number three. Check the blower?

You got a brand-new supercharger.

Oxygen?

Oxygen system's okay. Full load, 450 pounds pressure.

- Gas? - Tank's filled up to 2800 gallons.

Oil, all okay.

- What are we carrying, Max? - Big stuff. Eight 1000-pounders.

Rickson will be pleased. He's got his heart set on blowing up the Continent.

Hey, sir, captain?

Okay, Blackie.

Like me to stay behind, look after the house?

You wanna live, don't you, Junior?

Yeah. Yeah, that's the general idea.

Well, I'll see what I can do about it.

Number two.

Hit it.

Number one.

Number three.

Number four.

- Clear for takeoff, colonel. - Roger.

Roger. Rolling.

- Max, we all clear down there? - Yeah, fine.

Speed up, Zebra 3. Clear for takeoff.

Zebra 3. Roger.

Gear up.

First time I went up on a plane, I was 17. It was a dawn like this.

Dawns are for copilots, Bolland.

To all positions, all positions. Test-fire guns.

Test-fire guns.

There's something to look at, Bolland. There's something to look at.

Save your ammo.

Save your ammo. And look, let's see a few hits today for a change, huh?

Number two. Tighten it up.

Stay in close.

Number three, stay in close. You're all by yourself out there.

Yes, sir. Joining the party.

We're at 11,000.

On oxygen, everybody. On oxygen.

Prien, check in.

- Snap into it, Prien. - Okay, captain. Ready to check.

- Lamb? - Check.

- Handown? - Okay, mine's on.

- Right. - Brindt speaking. On oxygen.

- Farr speaking. Me too. - Brag's okay.

- Junior? - It's not working.

It's a wonder you can get your pants on by yourself, Junior. Farr, fix his mask.

Sure, captain.

- Lynch, where are we? - We're over the North Sea.

Over the North Sea. Could you be more specific?

Just follow the lead ship.

I don't want advice, Lynch. I want our position now.

We're approaching the coast, colonel. What do you think?

- Looks like solid cloud cover. Chong? - Yes, sir?

- What are the chances? - Not very good, sir.

We've lost contact. Probably close to the IP, but I can't be sure.

I'll get a report on the alternate targets.

This is Fat Gal Red. This is Fat Gal Red.

Requesting operations report. Zenith eight and nine.

Come in, Operations.

Zenith eight and nine, last report unfavorable.

- All the targets are covered. - Those weather guys missed it today.

Wanna try a chance shot through the cloud cover?

No other military targets in this area. We'll have to abort.

This is Fat Gal Red to all padlocks.

Solid cloud cover over all targets. Mission aborted. Follow me.

We're taking a 180-degree turn to the right.

Repeat, 180-degree turn to the right.

On signal, bombs will be dropped in the sea.

Not my bombs.

- What about the solid cloud cover? - We're going under it.

- What about Emmet? - I'll handle Emmet.

Let's worry about the target, Bolland.

Max, I'm taking you down for a closer look.

Stay on the nose gun until we get to the IP. Got it?

And listen, I want as much speed as I can get.

Keep the bomb bays closed until the last minute.

Sure, captain.

Attention, crew. Attention, all crew. We're going in low. We're going in low.

Bragliani, Farr, we're in the front now. Keep your eyes open.

That goes for you too, Junior. Stay on your toes.

I'm sorry, captain. I can't get on my toes. There's not room enough.

Careful, Junior, or I'll stop your allowance.

Lynch, as soon as we get visibility, set our course for the IP.

- What altitude do you figure on? - About 9000.

Isn't that pretty low for bombing? We'll be expected to...

Listen, Lynch, you navigate. Let me do the flying.

Prien, they all tightened up back there?

Yes, sir.

Here we go.

Altitude, 8500. That was a pretty good guess.

- Warm up the automatic pilot. - Right.

Lynch, have you picked up the target course?

Hold her steady on 038 degrees.

Right, O38 degrees.

Look what we've got here.

- You ready, Max? - Hand her over.

She's all yours.

There's your submarine pens.

Bomb doors open.

Get them dead center. Dead center, Max.

Dead center.

Bombs away!

Giving her back to you, Buzz.

I got it.

What about that? The squareheads can't even shoot straight.

What were you saying?

That was pretty good.

Goodness has nothing to do with it.

Bandits, three 190s at two o'clock.

Handown, Bragliani, they're coming in on your side.

Max, stay in the nose gun, understand?

- Bandit, three o'clock level. - Max, coming in, 11 o'clock high.

Junior, Prien, get him when he passes underneath.