Capt. Paul Pridie, a tough-as-nails, by-the-book instructor assigned to the 918th to evaluate the pilots' instrument flying, rubs everybody the wrong way, including his childhood friend and highly regarded pilot, Capt. Johnny Eagle. When Pridie gives Eagle an especially dim appraisal, threatening his impending promotion, Eagle takes out his disappointment on his old pal, until he realizes that Pridie's uptight attitude is due to the fact that he has never flown a combat mission and is deathly afraid to. When Eagle assures him that all the pilots feel the same fear, Pridie loosens up, that is until a tragic mission crushes his fledgling courage and leaves him wallowing in self-pity.