Complete credited cast: | |||
William Holden | ... | Maj. Lincoln Bond | |
Lloyd Nolan | ... | Brig. Gen. Bill Banner | |
Virginia Leith | ... | Connie Mitchell | |
Charles McGraw | ... | Col. 'Mickey' McKee | |
Murray Hamilton | ... | Maj. Bromo Lee | |
Paul Fix | ... | Lt. Gen. Bryan Shelby | |
James Garner | ... | Lt. Col. Joe Craven | |
L.Q. Jones | ... | 2nd Lt. Sweeney | |
Karen Steele | ... | Polly Craven | |
Bartlett Robinson | ... | Sen. Black | |
Malcolm Atterbury | ... | Hank - Bell Technical Rep. | |
Ralph Moody | ... | Harvey Gilbert | |
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Maura Murphy | ... | Sarah McKee |
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Carol Kelly | ... | Debbie |
USAF Major Lincoln Bond is captured, tortured and released from a POW camp in Korea. After the war he returns to the US where he is re-assigned as a test pilot at the Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The Air Force is testing the new experimental aircraft Gilbert XF-120 fighter. The acceptance of the new aircraft by the Air Force is dependent on successful tests designed to prove the aircraft's reliability and safety. However, when Major Bond flies the prototype he encounters a problem that points out a dangerous structural flaw. This could threaten the aircraft's acceptance by the Air Force and derail the whole project. Major Bond's commanding officer and some of his colleagues start to suspect that Major Bond is imagining things because of his mental condition dating back to his imprisonment and torture in the Korean POW camp. Written by nufs68
I've seen this film maybe three times in 30 years which isn't often enough. Sometimes I think that's because it's so truthful and there are those in high places who would rather the rest of us didn't know of the many blunders made by government and industry in the early days of supersonic flight after WWII. It really ought to be aired more often.