A meditation on youth, war and stunning bravery, featuring footage, taken from the National Archives, from the documentary filmed in 1943 by legendary Hollywood director William Wyler about the famous Memphis Belle flying fortress and the gripping narration from some of the last surviving B-17 pilots.

In the North African desert in World War II, a crippled American fighter plane that is unable to take off tries to evade and destroy a pursuing Nazi tank.

A small group of Allied soldiers and airmen on Java are being bombed by Japanese 'planes daily. With only one working fighter of their own, and five pilots anxious to fly it, the Dutch commander chooses George Collins to fly a mission to drop a 500-lb bomb on the Japanese carrier lying offshore. As the flight progresses, the commander asks the other pilots to tell him about George. They recount his rise from brilliant law student, through the time he became involved in the corrupt machine of his state's Governor, and his attempts to redeem himself, both in his own eyes, and in Fredie, his long-time love.

Sotiris, the president of Ano Latini, goes to Athens to get information about the project of expropriation for the construction of a military airport in the village. Dimitroula, president's daughter, is in love with Vangelis, an aircraftsman, who serves his duty in Athens. When Vangelis learns that a wealthy villager asked to marry his girlfriend, he goes to the village with his friend Kanellos, to find out what's happening. Kanellos is a naive hotel concierge who wears a fancy uniform, making everyone in the village believe that he is a Wing Commander.

Compiled from the Imperial War Museum Official Collection, this film collects rare and previously unseen film material shot by official cameramen on behalf of the RAF before the formation of the RAF Film Production Unit in September 1941. It tells the story of the RAF in the early years of the Second World War through the "phoney war", the Blitzkfreig and the Battle of Britain, capturing everyday life for those who served as wel as the RAF's frontline aircraft of the period. Other highlights include a fillmed account of a Blenheim raid on Northern France, a Sunderland flying boat sortie over Norway and Winston Churchill inspecting the new American aircraft for the RADF including the B-17, Douglas Boston and P-40.