At an American air base in England in 1943, conniving, womanizing Sergeant Dolan (Tom D'Andrea) manipulates everyone, while insubordinate, maverick pilot fighter ace Major Ed Hardin (Edmond O'Brien) gives his commanding officer and close friend, Colonel Brickley (John Rodney), headaches by ignoring the out-of-date rules of engagement formulated by Brigadier General M. Gilbert (Shepperd Strudwick).

One rule in particular, forbidding pilots to marry, irks his friend and wingman Captain Stu Hamilton (Robert Stack).

Unfortunately, Hamilton is shot down and killed; he admits to Hardin over the radio as his burning aircraft plummets to Earth that he had been distracted during the mission by thoughts of his wife.

[6] To portray Luftwaffe fighters, the film used eight North American P-51 Mustangs from the California ANG, with ersatz German markings.

This rousing march was used again, three years later, as the main theme music for Warner Bros. World War II submarine drama Operation Pacific (1951).

He disparaged the "lurid adventure episodes" in the film story, and commented: "The glamour-repute of the Air Forces and the 'hot rocks' who flew the fighter planes, which was cause for much ironic jesting among the lowly 'doughfeet' during the war, is the stuff that Warner Brothers has exclusively put upon the screen in its loud, Technicolored Fighter Squadron, which came to the Strand yesterday".