In 1941, Joseph "Mac" McConnell Jr. (
Alan Ladd), a private in the Army medical corps near Fitchburg, Massachusetts, aspires to be a pilot, even going
AWOL to take private lessons. While flying with his instructor, he realizes that military police are waiting for him at the airport and to avoid arrest, he parachutes out of the aircraft and hitches a ride with teenager Bob Brown (
Robert Ellis). Bob takes Mac home with him where he meets Bob's mother (
Sarah Selby), young brother Ronnie (Ray Ferrell) and sister Pearl (
June Allyson), whom Mac nicknames "Butch". With the military police on his trail, Mac leaves by a back window and returns to the base, where his superior, Sgt. Sykes (
Frank Faylen), sentences him to the stockade. Mac sneaks out and returns to the Brown home to see Butch, and later, after a brief courtship, proposes to her at a boxing match. Sykes reluctantly gives his permission and recommends Mac's promotion and transfer to a medical school in Texas, but the transfer comes through on the McConnells' wedding day, preempting their honeymoon. At the new base, Mac persuades his instructors that he belongs in flight school. When he is transferred to Washington state, a pregnant Butch returns home. During Christmas leave, Mac tries to hitchhike across country, but gives up when he realizes he will not arrive in time for the birth. Again in trouble, Mac is sentenced to sentry duty but learns about his daughter's birth from fellow student, Ty Whitman (
James Whitmore). Despite wanting to become a pilot, Mac is assigned as a navigator on a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. While flying over France, his bomber is attacked by a new German
jet aircraft and after crash landing, the
aircrew is rescued. In peacetime, Mac is miserable at a desk job in Nebraska. When Ty tells him about the Air Force's recruitment of experienced fliers, he volunteers. Butch supports Mac's decision. Feeling he was "born to fly," Mac makes his first solo flight on one of the new jet aircraft. Mac is transferred from base to base with his family, which eventually includes another daughter and son. Before he is sent to fight in the Korean War, Mac takes Butch on a picnic in
Apple Valley, California, where he has bought property and plans to build a house. Aircraft passing overhead fly in the "
missing man formation" which Mac explains that the pilots are honoring a colleague who was killed. In Korea, Mac helps to rescue men on a downed aircraft in the middle of enemy territory. During another mission, his
North American F-86 Sabre is shot down over the sea and he must parachute to safety. Mac becomes the "top ace" in the conflict, downing 15
MiG-15 fighters. He is named the first triple jet ace in history, but after shooting down his 16th MiG, Ty and his superiors fear that he is getting tired and reckless and transfer him stateside to train new pilots. Back home, Mac is given a hero's welcome and meets the president. When the family settles down in Apple Valley, their neighbors present them with the keys to a house specially built for them. Ty, now a colonel, asks Mac to take a job testing new jets but Butch is afraid for his safety. Mac tests the
F-86H Sabre, the newest version of the
F-86, flying faster and faster, despite Ty's warning to slow down. Suddenly the controls are frozen and Ty radios Mac to bail out. Believing that he can regain control, Mac is killed in the subsequent crash. Butch sees aircraft overhead in the missing man formation, and realized what happened. Months later, Ty takes Butch to the base where she learns that modifications prompted by Mac's accident will save lives. ==Cast==