Major John "Bucky" Egan and Major Gale "Buck" Cleven
Led by Majors Cleven and Egan, the 100th Bomb Group arrives in England and joins the 8th Air Force’s campaign against Nazi Germany. On their first mission, the confident but inexperienced airmen quickly learn that War Is Hell.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Activation Sequence: Prior to their mission to Bremen, we see the B-17 pilots all running through their preflight checklists, checking oil levels, priming the engines and finally firing them up one at a time.
- All for Nothing: The 100th's first mission costs them 3 B-17s and their crews, plus several casualties on the other planes without a single bomb dropped on the enemy due to heavy cloud cover over Bremen.
- Captain's Log: The narration is provided by Lt. Crosby, who first introduces their aircraft, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, describing its heavy defenses before explaining that even with so much firepower at hand, the bombers still must stick closely together to avoid getting picked off by German fighters. Later, during a bar scene, Crosby's narration introduces many of the airmen of the 100th as he walks around socializing.
- Reliably Unreliable Guns: The tailgunner in Buck and Curtis's bomber tries to engage the German fighters only for both of his guns to jam. He gets frustrated trying to clear the jam with his mittens on and makes the mistake of removing them, only to get his hands frozen to the guns, pulling skin off when he yanks them free.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- During the opening party scene, Bucky is drinking and dancing, while Buck abstains from alcohol and begs his girlfriend not to make him dance.
- Crosby is attempting to navigate while suffering from debilitating air sickness, leading to an error that almost gets the crew killed.
- Establishing Series Moment: In the opening scene, Bucky Egan and his friend Buck Clevan are having drinks together the night before Bucky ships out for England to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the 100th. The very next scene is Bucky in a damaged Flying Fortress, tending to the wounded bombardier and navigator and checking the charts to get the pilot a new heading to get back to safety, while the formation of bombers fights furiously to fend off a swarm of German fighters. After they return to England, Bucky talks with the pilot:Bucky: Are they all like that?Pilot: You wondering what to tell your guys? Don’t say anything. They’ll figure it out... We all do.
- High-Up Ice-Up: The air - and the aircraft interiors - gets freezing cold at the altitude they routinely fly, so the crews must wear bulky protective gear. A tailgunner learns the hard way why he shouldn't take his gloves off before handling his guns, and a ball turret gunner ends up nearly freezing to death because the plexiglass windshield on his turret is blown out by shrapnel, exposing him directly to the elements. Once they've made it out of danger, the other gunners pull him out and wrap him in blankets.
- Homoerotic Subtext: When Buck helps Claytor with his gear, Claytor comments on how much he likes Buck's aftershave.
- When they nearly have a mid-air collision later, Claytor remarks that he knows it was Buck because he could smell that nice aftershave of his.
- One-Steve Limit: Defied Trope. John "Bucky" Egan and his best friend, Gale "Buck" Clevan. Buck laments that Bucky is responsible for him having that nickname, because he reminds him of a guy he knows back home named Buck.
- Scenery Porn: We are treated to a beautiful shot of a line of bombers flying through a fjord in Greenland, threading their way between the mountains as they navigate to a refueling stop on their way to England.
- Tongue on the Flagpole: The bombers are not pressurized, and at the altitude they are flying, the interiors of the planes are well below freezing. One crewman accidentally gets his hands frozen to his guns when he makes the mistake of taking his gloves off to try and clear a jam.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Crosby suffers from air sickness, but is mostly seen heaving into a bag. Somewhat subverted in that him diving for a compass that's about to fall off his desk smashes the bag, causing some of his "juices" to go all over the tail gunner's back.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After reprimanding and dismissing Major Egan, Colonel Huglin violently upchucks bloodied milk he was just drinking, alluding to the severe ulcers he was suffering from and would later cause him be relieved of command.
- War Is Hell: The 100th's first mission gets off to a bad start when Buck and Claytor almost immediately have a mid-air collision while trying to form up in the clouds. One of the three squadrons has their lead plane fall out due to mechanical problems, then ends up falling behind the rest of the formation, and ends up getting shot to hell when the German fighters single them out as easy pickings, with three of the remaining five bombers being shot down in rapid succession. In the end, they aren't able to see the target through the cloud cover and return to England without bombing anything.
