As part of a brand new strategy called "shuttle bombing", the 918th lands in North Africa at the end of the first leg of the flight seriously short on fuel. Unfortunately, they are forced to use an airfield that has only just been liberated from the Germans by a motley group of Allied units commanded, by chance, by Col. Gallagher's older brother, Preston. Now the Nazis are determined to take the field back in a massive counterattack. Not only are Preston's forces badly outnumbered and out-gunned, but he is suffering from battle fatigue and on the verge of a breakdown. To make matters worse, he has commandeered his brother's fuel for his own plan to retreat, leaving Joe's planes and his mission in grave danger.