The Wild Blue Yonder

In 1943, Capt. Harold Calvert arrives at Smoky Hill, Kansas, to learn to fly the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress. He trains under his cousin, Maj. Tom West, whose abilities are questioned by others. Cal defends Tom when a crewman taunts him in front of Helen, a nurse who has been seeing Tom.

Cal stands up for Tom when a crewman taunts him, witnessed by Helen, who is involved with Tom. The moment tests loyalty and foreshadows the bond between Cal and his cousin under wartime pressure.

The pilots learn that the pressurized B-29 can fly higher, faster, and farther than other bombers. During a training test, Cal pushes beyond the instructed limit, triggering a sudden decompression that nearly ends in disaster. A crewman is sucked out but survives by using his parachute. Tom reprimands Cal for jeopardizing the test program.

Gen Wolfe declares the pilots and B-29s ready for combat and leads them to bases in China to begin attacks on Japan. Cal and the others prepare for real war as they depart for Asia.

Cal's first missions are harrowing, but the B-29s prove highly effective at high-altitude strikes against Japanese targets from China. The squadron experiences the strain and grit of early combat.

The group is transferred to Guam, where Tom is reunited with Helen, the nurse he has been seeing, and Cal continues high-altitude missions. The new theater shifts the pace of air warfare and personal lives alike.

Gen. Curtis LeMay takes command and shifts the air war to low-altitude raids intended to inflict heavier damage, altering the tactics and hazard level for the crews. Cal and his squadron adapt to the new approach as losses mount.

As Cal earns a reputation for heroism, Helen's affections for him grow. Their bond adds a personal dimension to the brutal, high-stakes missions they fly together from the Pacific theater.

During a mass raid on Tokyo, Cal and Tom fly together as their B-29 comes under heavy anti-aircraft fire. The crew fights to maintain formations and reach the target, despite mounting danger.

Cal is wounded as the bomber struggles to return to base. Tom stays at the controls and, in a final act of heroism, returns to the burning wreck to rescue a trapped crewmate, but the aircraft explodes and he is killed.

Weeks after Tom's death, the war ends with B-29s dropping the atomic bomb on Japanese cities. Cal and Helen remain together, their bond strengthened by the ordeal of war.