BY DOUG OSWALD

James Stewart is a former World War II bomber pilot called back to active duty nearly a decade after the war ended in “Strategic Air Command,” available on Blu-ray from Olive Films. Stewart plays Lt. Colonel Robert “Dutch” Holland, a 3rd baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, who is ordered to report for a 21-month tour of active duty to help oversee the transfer from the B-36 bomber to the new B-47 bomber in the Strategic Air Command, responsible for the United States Air Force bomber aircraft. The news is delivered by an old friend, Major Gen. “Rusty” Castle (James Millican). Dutch and Cardinals Manager Tom Doyle (Jay C. Flippen) are not happy about the recall which puts his baseball career on hold for nearly two years, but he accepts it as part of his patriotic duty. Dutch’s wife, Sally (June Allyson), is excited at the prospect and looks forward to being a military wife.

Dutch is questioned at the gate of Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, when he arrives, orders in hand, but not in uniform. He responds in typical Stewart restrained irritability, explaining he doesn’t have an Air Force uniform or military identification, but is eventually escorted on base by General Castle. Rusty and Dutch meets the SAC commander, General Ennis C. Hawkes (Frank Lovejoy), who arrives at Carswell AFB on a surprise inspection of base security, landing on a civilian airliner which has requested an emergency landing. When the head of security explains why he allowed a group of men to get off the aircraft, Hawkes barks, “Don’t tell me your little problems son. All I’m interested is results!” After getting his Air Force uniform, Dutch meets his new Squadron Commander, Colonel Espy (Bruce Bennett) and his Operations commander, Lt. Colonel “Rocky” Samford (Barry Sullivan). During his flight physical and altitude chamber test, Sally arrives and they eventually set up in their new home in base housing.

On his orientation flight onboard a B-36, Dutch meets the flight engineer, Master Sgt. Bible (Henry Morgan) and flight navigator and fellow recalled pilot, Captain Ike Knowland (Alex Nicol). Dutch has to reflect on his own feelings about being recalled when addressing Ike’s vocal criticism of the USAF recall policy in order to maintain discipline of his crew. Upon getting a tour of the inside of a B-36, Dutch’s early reservations about learning to fly a radically different aircraft than the B-29s he flew during WWII are set aside by the wisdom of Sergant Bible, “Of course, when you boil it all down it’s still an aircraft and a crew working together to get a bomb on a target.”

While the movie is a fictional account, some of the characters have real life counterparts. Stewart’s character Dutch is semi-based on baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who served as a fighter pilot during WWII and was later recalled and served as fighter pilot during the Korean War. General Hawkes is based on General Curtis LeMay, Commander of the Strategic Air Command from 1949-57. LeMay was known for surprise inspections and being tough on SAC airmen by keeping them on a constant war readiness setting.

The movie offers outstanding model work and filmed footage of the real aircraft, both in the air and on the ground, featuring the B-36 and B-47 with glimpses of the soon to arrive B-52. The script does a great job portraying the struggles of military families moving away from familiar surroundings, adjusting to military life and aircrew on long flights and deployments. The main action concerns two long overseas flights, including a crash landing of a B-36 in Greenland during winter. The major problem with the movie, as terrific as it is for a former SAC member like myself, is SAC was always a peacetime deterrent to the Soviet Union and never went to war with the exception of B-52s on conventional bombing missions during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. The motto on the SAC shield, “Peace is Our Profession,” drives home this dilemma. Sergeant Bible sums it up well to Dutch while on a mission, “Everyday in SAC’s a war, Colonel. Pressure’s on all the time. We never know when the other fellow might start something. So we’ve got to be combat ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

SAC was established 21 March 1946 in response to the post WWII Soviet threat known as the Cold War. General Carl Spaatz, the father of the United States Air Force, which was established on 26 September 1947, created SAC with General Curtis LeMay out of the remnants of the Eighth Air Force. SAC remained a major player in the Cold War for 45 years. That all came to an end in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I remember that final year of SAC when three Soviet MiGs and their support aircraft flew in to Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, on a goodwill tour. It was a surreal time to be in SAC. Our mission was to defend against the Soviet threat, not host them for dinner and drinks at the base club.