Bombardier (film)

Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama about the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film stars Pat OBrien and Randolph Scott. Bombardier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for the special effects used in the film. It was largely filmed at Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico.

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 OBrien 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 cant 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 B17 Flying Fortress, succeeds in hitting his target with his first bomb.Later, Oliver recommends that Hughes Field, in Almansor, New Mexico, the civilian flying school of a friend, be leased as a new Bombardier Training School. As the schools first class nears graduation, Major Davis arrives, with righthand man, MSgt. Archie Dixon Barton MacLane, to take command. Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including the fields former owner, Burton Burt Hughes Anne Shirley, the daughter of a respected Air Corps general and now a secretary under terms of the lease. Davis is brusque with Burt and she observes he could use some training in manners. ........

Source: Wikipedia