Captain Buzz Rickson checks his ship, The Body, before taking off on a mission to bomb the German submarine pens at Kiel. Rickson is a "war lover" who's proud to be part of the "most destructive group of men the world has ever seen."

The top turret gunner on The Body surveys the skies on the way to Kiel. The strike on Kiel, from base to target and back, is an incredibly accurate depiction of an 8th Air Force mission. Details abound, from preflight check, to test-firing the Fort's array of .50s, to basic formation flying.

The first third of Arthur Hornblow, Jr.'s The War Lover is a recreation of a B-17 strike on Kiel, Germany,

Kiel appears through a rent in the clouds in this view from The Body's nose. Front and center is the ubiquitous Norden bombsight. Rickson has broken formation after the squadron is ordered to abort because of poor visibility over the target. Ever the cowboy, he takes his ship in low and finds a hole in the clouds, all he needs to drop his "eggs" into the basket.

A waist gunner on The Body watches for enemy fighters on the return leg of the Kiel mission. Life inside the plane's fuselage is the hallmark of the movie. Sights and sounds abound. The hundreds of empty shell casings rattling around on the metal floor. The claustrophobic womblike ball turret spinning on its servo mechanism. The narrow catwalk between the bomb racks.