Strategic Air Command is a 1955 American military aviation war drama film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, directed by Anthony Mann, and released by Paramount Pictures.

A B-29 bomber pilot during World War II, Holland retains a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, but is on inactive, non-drilling status.

Holland becomes a favorite of General Hawkes, and he is rewarded with a revised assignment flying the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida, across the bay from St. Petersburg where his old baseball team continues to conduct its spring training.

On a full B-47 wing deployment exercise that involves flying nonstop from MacDill to Yokota Air Base in Japan, the crew encounter severe wind and storms.

He is unable to operate the engine power levers (throttles) during final landing phase, and he has to rely on his co-pilot to do so, while Holland works the flight controls with his left arm and both feet.

In real life, during World War II, Stewart had been a B-17 instructor pilot, a B-24 squadron commander, and a bomb group operations officer, completing 20 combat missions.

He pushed for an authentic but sympathetic portrayal of the Strategic Air Command, which led Paramount to put together a strong cast of Hollywood veterans and production people including June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, director Anthony Mann, and the top stunt pilot of the day, Paul Mantz.

The film accurately portrays (from the perspective of the 1951 starting point of the script) the duties and responsibilities of an Air Force strategic bomber pilot, and the demands such service places on family life.

"[4] The film includes dramatic aerial photography, credited to Thomas Tutwiler, for which it was awarded a special citation by the American National Board of Review.

It is also the only motion picture to highlight the Convair B-36 (depicted in the theatrical release poster), the largest mass-produced piston-powered aircraft ever built, and the first bomber for the hydrogen bomb.

The baseball scenes were filmed with the cooperation of the St. Louis Cardinals at their spring training home of Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, just across Tampa Bay from MacDill AFB.