Brigadier General Eugene L. Eubank, commander of the first heavy bombardment group of the U.S. Army Air Forces to see combat in World War II, introduces the film with the statement: I want you to know about a new kind of American soldier, the most important of all our fighting men today.

The greatest bombing plane in the world, with its combat crew, takes him into battle, through weather, through enemy opposition, just so he may have 30 seconds over the target.

I want you to know about him, and about those who had the faith and vision and foresight to bring him into being, to fit him for his task, long months before our war began.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.

Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including Burton "Burt" Hughes, the daughter of a respected Air Corps general and now a secretary.

Preflight ground school reveals many shortcomings: Tom Hughes has trouble with fear-induced air sickness, Joe Connors with commitment issues, and "Chito" Rafferty with the lack of women on the base.

At the base, Oliver, now a major, joins the group just as it is about to fly a night mission to bomb an aircraft factory in Nagoya.

Oliver's assignment is bomb with incendiaries to set the target on fire a half hour before the arrival of the group, which Davis will lead at high altitude.

Flying low, Oliver's bomber is shot down before he can drop his bombs, and Connors remains at his post, sacrificing his life to destroy the bombsight.

Oliver drives the burning truck throughout the factory, setting fire to its camouflage netting and fulfills his mission, knowing he will be killed by his own men.

[4] All the aviation cadets in training at the base were used as extras, and veteran aircrews assigned to the school as instructors flew the B-17s used in formation shots at the end of the film.

[3] At Kirtland, filming featured live action photography of training aircraft including Beech AT-11 Kansan trainers, as well as Boeing B-17C and E series Flying Fortresses, Consolidated B-24 Liberators, Douglas B-18 Bolos and North American B-25 Mitchell bombers.

[3] Lambert Hillyer directed filming (uncredited) of an aerial sequence, while Joseph F. Biroc completed the cinematography work begun and credited to Nicholas Musuraca.

[13] Bombardier received an Academy Award nomination in 1944 for Best Special Effects: Vernon L. Walker (photographic), James G. Stewart and Roy Granville (sound).