power dive!
kill the bastards!
good shooting, rafe!
home of the brave!
daddy, i told you i was comin' here.
da!.  dad.
rafe.  daddy.  no!
daddy! daddy! wait.
not on your best day, boy!
hey, you wanna test my limits, you better line up a couple dozen women on the ground. cause i got no limits in the air!
if i had guns i'd be chewing up your --
yee-hawww!!!
where's rafe?
what about him?
he's gonna do it.
it. aw, shit. aw shit shit shit.
i shouldn't'a done an inside loop. i shouldn't'a done an inside loop.
cause now he's gonna do an outside loop.
you can do it, rafe. you can do it.
you could've killed yourself, you stupid bastard!
that was the most beautiful thing i ever saw.
doolittle didn't kill you? attaboy!
how could you do this?
i don't mean how'd you do the paperwork, i mean how the hell did you do it without letting me in on it?
don't make this a joke, rafe. you're talking about war, and i know what war does to people.
nah, you go on.
some other time. i don't feel like a party.
didn't you say you told her not to come?
then why are you looking for her?
you're still a kid, ya know that? take care of yourself.
give 'em hell, rafe.
drop your cocks and grab your socks, boys! the terror of the skies are here!
hey. you. mr. coma.
what lizard?
what the hell happened to you guys?
this is an air base? where's your squad commander?
yeah.
hey! what is this, the planes all bunched up like that?
what about easier to hit in an air raid?
yeah.
well guys. i reckon there's just one thing to do.
rafe's girl, evelyn?
a friend of mine's in love with her. so you don't even look -- not ever.
i'm a better pilot than any son-of-a- bitch on this island! so i'm the one to say this! here's to rafe mccawley! a better pilot. and a better man. than me.
nah, i'm gonna stay here. read.
lieutenant.  i'm danny walker. i'm rafe mccawley's best friend.
before rafe left, he asked me to be the one to tell you, if it happened.
rafe's folks had a crop dusting business, owned their own planes. real straight, frugal. my father was the town drunk. went to sleep one night on the railroad tracks and was still there when the dawn express came along. rafe and i were the only ones at the funeral. he took me back to his house, and i never left.
i taught him to drink beer. he taught me how to fly.
he said that?
look, uh. rafe's dad. he wrote me with the news, and it took me a couple of days to work up the guts to come here and tell you. i'm not as brave as rafe, or as noble. but if there's anything i can ever do to help -- you let me know, okay?
i understand why rafe loved you. you're as strong as he was.
yes sir.
you liked that?
sir?
hale-what?
sir, i --
i wasn't gonna apologize, sir. i was just gonna say it was worth it to feel like a real pilot again, even if it was only for five seconds.
how's everything?
that might not have been such a good idea. they're making us fly out of a half-paved airfield. the real punishment is that i won't be back to the barracks till it's too late for dinner or coffee. so i guess it's goodbye for awhile.
i swore not to talk about him tonight, but there's all this stuff i think i ought to tell you, that he didn't get a chance to. rafe was. he was lonely. he had such high expectations of himself that he always felt empty. the week he met you he told me he felt his heart had always lived in winter, and for the first time in his life he has seen the spring.
sorry.
hey, have you seen pearl harbor at night?
from the air?
hang on.
rafe!
you're alive!
don't worry. i'll find him.
you'd always go sit in a plane whenever you were upset.
let's go get a drink. unless you're scared to talk about it.
drink up. then we'll talk.
why be sorry? that's what you feel, it's better to come out with it.
sure you did. so come on. say what you think.
you don't wanna put beer over mai-tai.
what facts are those?
i was grieving too.
so what are you saying?
you left her. how's that for a fact?
you know, you're a lousy drinker. drinking's supposed to make men feel bigger. it only makes you stupid. and weak.
you want it, you got it.
i guess i'm used to it. i've felt like throwing up every minute since you got back.
don't blame her, rafe. it's not like you're thinking.
she loves you. i know that. and part of what she loves in me is how much of you she sees in me.
we were both torn up. i started dropping by to see her, because we understood what each other felt. we'd have coffee and try not to talk about you, but we always would.
she said i was so much like you. i said, no, i'm not. i'm like i am because of you, but i'm not you, not as good as you. everybody else saw me as a loser with a big chip on his shoulder. but you saw the better part of me, the part of me that could be like you, and changed me. you made me who i am.
come on!
this is walker! we're under attack! get those planes fueled and armed right now!
come with us!
auxiliary field at haleiwa, ten miles north of here.
six p-40's.
they ready, earl?
cover!
this ain't a little feud, earl, it's world war two!
you guys get those! earl, rafe, come with me!
earl! you said the planes were ready but -- but what?
anthony, red, stay with the guns! coma, you cover the cannons! joe, theo, come with us! earl, you get on the radio! we're gonna fight these fuckers.
your call, rafe.
it's tight.
they're all over us!
yeah. so you can call me if you need help.
little less.
home of the brave.
i'm out of fuel!
we need ammo too!
he did.
where is the west virginia?
we're looking for dorie miller.
like we all are.
i'm walker.
i told her not to come.
this hasn't been easy for any of us. i feel awful for how it's happened. but i've seen my first spring too. thanks for knowing that's true.
whatever is was you heard about us.
you can count on us.
sorry you're gonna die -- cause i'm gonna make it.
a long range bomber mission.
who'll be the first one in, colonel? i'd like to volunt --
fun today. like old times.
what do you mean? i'm just doing what we've always done.
we've always tried to beat each other.
maybe just trying to measure up.
i don't reckon we can get hogbrains and grits, but i hear a man can eat good in this town.
it's shorter than our practice runway.
we'll be loaded with 2,000 pounds of bombs and 1,500 pounds of fuel. i got another chinese phrase for doolittle. "mug wump rickshaw mushu pork." it means "who the fuck thought up this shit?"
longer? it's getting shorter.
broomsticks instead of tail guns.
and i'm on yours. land of the free.
we got a 25-mile-an-hour head wind. how we doing with fuel?
flash rafe. we're gonna bail.
i've made better landings.
i can't make it.
take care of evelyn.
no. you are.