The 8th Air Force is tasked with the destruction of the Luftwaffe and the Nazi industrial plant. In the spring of 1943 it is taking severe losses for little result. Prime Minister Churchill persuades President Roosevelt to make the switch from day bombing to the RAF strategy of night bombing. The RAF has deployed a first generation of ground-mapping radar and electronic navigation aids that allow them to find targets under cover of darkness. But the Air Corps is trained in daylight precision bombing, and the changeover will be costly in terms of time and equipment, with an unknown chance of success. The leaders of the Air Corps decide that they must be ready to make the change, and Major Charles Davis is one of those chosen to fly with RAF Bomber Command and learn how they do it.
But Bomber Command's losses are also high, and the chances of Charlie Davis surviving are not good.