Editing Michael Rennie (section)

===War service===
Rennie enlisted in the [[RAF Volunteer Reserve]] on 27 May 1941. "There has been a pause in Rennie's film career", wrote Balcon in 1942. "But there will be parts awaiting him when the war is over".<ref name="michael"/>

He was officially discharged on 4 August 1942, and then on the following day, he was commissioned "for the emergency" as [[pilot officer]] number 127347 on probation in the General Duties Branch of the RAFVR. On 5 February 1943, he was promoted to [[flying officer]] on probation. He resigned his commission on 1 May 1944 (not discharged on disability, as the studio publicity stated).{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

Rennie had carried out his basic training near [[Torquay]] in [[Devon]], after which he was sent to the United States for [[fighter plane|fighter pilot]] training under the [[Hap Arnold|Arnold Plan]]. In this programme, pilots of the RAF were trained by [[United States Army Air Forces]] instructors. One of his fellow students was RAF Sergeant Jack Morton, who told an anecdote about when he and Rennie were in the same class:
<blockquote>{{citation needed span|date=October 2024|text=At the end of our primary course we were posted to a Basic Flying School at Cochran Field, [[Macon, Georgia]]. The class which completed the course at Cochran Field was now split up, half were posted to Napier Field, [[Dothan, Alabama]], to train on single-engine planes, and the remainder were posted to twin-engine schools. Like Cochran, Napier Field was a large permanent Air Corps Base and most of us were quite content to stay on the camp when we had time off. One of the cadets on our course had told us that he was a film actor, but no one took him seriously. We had to admit that he was right however when a film came to the camp cinema called ''[[Ships with Wings]]'' starring Michael Rennie.}}</blockquote>