Editing Strategic Air Command (film) (section)

==Plot==
In 1951, Robert "Dutch" Holland{{#tag:ref|"Dutch" Holland is referred to by his given name once – by Sally's father, a Protestant minister – in the film's opening scenes; he is referred to by his nickname thereafter, although "Robert" also appears on his desk nameplate. The fictional character is no relation to the real-life major leaguer [[Dutch Holland|Robert "Dutch" Holland]].|group=Note}} is a professional [[baseball]] player with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]]. A [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29]] bomber pilot during [[World War II]], Holland retains a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the [[Air Force Reserve Command|United States Air Force Reserve]], but is on inactive, non-drilling status. During [[spring training]] at [[Al Lang Stadium|Al Lang Field]] in [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], he is recalled to active duty for 21 months. He reports to his posting at [[Carswell Air Force Base]], a bomber base in [[Fort Worth, Texas]], to qualify in the [[Convair B-36 Peacemaker|Convair B-36]]. He arrives in a civilian business suit, for which he is rebuked by General Hawkes, the commander of SAC, and replies that his uniforms are "the wrong color" (implying he has been inactive at least since the Air Force replaced the brown [[United States Army Air Forces]] uniform with a distinctive blue service dress uniform, which had occurred three years earlier in 1949). The General's character is clearly patterned after the real SAC commander of the time, General [[Curtis LeMay]].

Holland is given a staff job with the bombardment wing at Carswell that involves a lot of flying. He soon has a B-36 crew of his own, selecting a former World War II colleague as his flight engineer, and becomes enamored with both flying and the role of SAC in deterring war. He is joined by his wife, Sally, who had not bargained on being an Air Force wife, and who struggles with his repeated absences and the dangers of flying. On any given night, Holland might find his aircraft on airborne alert far from the continental United States, in secret, only telling his wife when he returns days later. Even so, Sally tells Dutch that she is happy as long as they can be together, no matter what he decides to do with his life.

The B-36 is a complex aircraft when introduced, but improvements are under constant development. One challenge was leakage from the fuel tanks, but a new fix is introduced to permanently resolve the issue. On their next flight, Holland's crew has to fly their B-36 from Carswell AFB to [[Thule Air Base]], Greenland. The fix does not work and one of the engines bursts into flame, causing the entire left wing to catch fire. The crew is forced to abandon the aircraft and bail out over the ice and snow of Greenland before arriving at Thule while Holland and his radar navigator stay on board for a [[forced landing]], which causes Holland to injure his right shoulder.

Holland becomes a favorite of General Hawkes, and he is rewarded with a revised assignment flying the new [[Boeing B-47 Stratojet]] at [[MacDill Air Force Base]], [[Tampa, Florida]], across the bay from St. Petersburg where his old baseball team continues to conduct its spring training. Promoted to "full bird" [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] and made deputy wing commander of his B-47 wing at MacDill AFB, Dutch decides, to Sally's displeasure, to remain in the Air Force, rather than return to baseball at the end of his active duty obligation.

On a full B-47 wing deployment exercise that involves flying nonstop from MacDill to [[Yokota Air Base]] in Japan, the crew encounter severe wind and storms. Low on fuel, they divert to [[Kadena Air Base]], Okinawa. As they prepare to land, Holland realizes that his shoulder injury from the B-36 crash was worse than he thought, and his arm is almost immobile. He is unable to operate the engine power levers (throttles) during final landing phase, and he has to rely on his co-pilot to do so, while Holland works the flight controls with his left arm and both feet.

This injury not only bars Holland from further flying and causes the Air Force to medically discharge him, but also appears to threaten his baseball career. General Hawkes suggests that he would make an excellent team manager.