On a mission over Germany, Rickson's commanding officer, Col. Emmet, aborts the bomber group's attack due to cloud cover.

As the plane nears the English coastline, an air-sea rescue team is contacted and the crew bails out – all except Rickson, who is determined to bring the bomber back to base.

[10] Three Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers formed the main aerial component in the film, and were composed of one B-17G and two postwar PB-1W Coast Guard rescue aircraft located in the United States.

[13] Some short but rare footage of actual air combat is included – especially the attacking Messerschmitt Bf 109G armed with 20 mm cannon firing at the B-17s.

Mike Reilly, a stuntman doubling for Robert Wagner, was killed during the production of The War Lover when he fell to his death in a parachuting accident.

[citation needed] The War Lover was unfavourably compared to other wartime aviation epics like Twelve O'Clock High (1949).

"But the fellows who sit in the cockpit of the one plane on which the actions center are a dull pair and are rendered even duller by poor acting and weak direction.

Altogether they make what at best is an average drama of love and jealousy into a small and tepid expose of one man's absurd cantankerousness.

"[15] In a similar vein, the review of The War Lover in Variety noted, "...the central character emerges more of an unappealing symbol than a sympathetic flesh-and-blood portrait....

The scenario seems reluctant to come to grips with the issue of this character's unique personality – a 'war lover' whose exaggerated shell of heroic masculinity covers up a psychopathic inability to love or enjoy normal relationships with women.