Original subtitles

He's assigned another squadron to help us sink it, a Navy squadron.

You're right, sir, I care. You follow in 10 minutes with

500 pounders, we'll take the zeros, you take the ship.

Admiral Hawkins would just love it if the wolves could get some quick kills.

Okay, wolves, set him down! Hey, St.

Bob, you gonna let the Germans get on the glory?

Ever since we landed on this rock, you have been jealous.

We sank that radar ship. You sank a dummy.

And that's what's going on in my report.

We are poor little lambs Who have lost our way Ba-ba-ba.

Crossing the Japanese controlled Solomon slot

Under the cover of darkness and storm clouds

Navy ships and planes deliver vital supplies To our Marines in the South Pacific

With the invasion of Arabella imminent

The success of this daring supply operation could be the key to victory

The area commander, Rear Admiral C.W. Hawkins

Recently flew over the slot to personally inspect the staging area for the invasion

Upon arriving he stated We're running supplies through the slot

Under the very noses of the Japanese But what they can't see, they can't get.

It didn't take the Japanese long to get wise to Admiral

Hawkins' brain shell That stuck a radar ship in the slot

Giving eyes to the zeros and making spam out of our supply line

Our mission was to find her and to sink her The zeros, they had other ideas.

Fun.

Break off Taffy, I'll be sucking air by the time we reach La Gava

I'm not flying a gas station I want you guys to run them,

lean, and we'll make it La Caban Tower, Black Sheep Leader

We're running on fumes and we're coming straight in

Negative, Major, negative, you got an L-5 on final.

We see it.

I'm out.

Break right out.

That was a good move up there, son You ever want a job with 214, you got it

Boynton, cut the ball You know we could have been killed up there

Yes, sir, but you weren't Personally, I think

my boys are entitled to the credit Well, I don't

I didn't fly all the way over here to get pranked by one of our own planes.

You didn't?

Boynton, Admiral Hawkins is burning our butts over that radar ship in the slot

Our supplies have been cut down to a trickle

And if we don't sink that ship pretty soon, we're

going to have to delay the invasion of Arabella And?

And he's assigned another squadron to help us sink it A Navy squadron

Good, we could use the help.

Boynton, they're Navy Sir, I don't care if they're seascouts We could use the help.

They are his hand-picked boys.

I don't care

You don't care No, sir, I don't care

Every one of them is straight out of flight school.

You're right, sir, I care.

Okay, wolves, send them down There's a lot more room here than on a carrier

As soon as we put on a little show for the jarhead.

Save something for the zeros.

I'm sorry about this, Greg

But at least I got the Admiral to keep you on his commander of the operation anyway.

Lieutenant Commander Bud Warren reporting as ordered Colonel Bud?

Nice to meet you This is Greg Boynton Hi, Greg

Bud, can we always expect this when your pilot's coming?

Ah, just a little youthful exuberance.

I've seen too many exuberant pilots end up in the side of a mountain

Pulling a stunt like that with half their rudder cable shot away

Greg, we just came from the Essex We didn't tangle with any Zs.

Thank God.

No stunts.

Right?

Well, why don't I buy you both a drink, huh? Right.

Right.

Right.

These guys are crazy Okay, wolves, I guess the gerads know we have arrived.

So that's what a Corsair should look like.

They call this mud hole an airfield?

Yeah, pretty shabby I've seen better emergency strips in the States

The thing I said comes our kid.

Whoa!

Hey, hey, hey You take a look at that Whoa, I had to get my hands on that bird

What for? You're just going to filthy teach him.

Can't be our line crew.

Pitiful.

All right, our tents and gear are on the R4D

He just chocked the planes and turned two on our bivouac.

Hey, buddy, don't you know how to salute?

Oh, yes, sir, I know how to salute.

Yes, sir, Sergeant Anderson, sir, please forgive me Yes, Sergeant, you heard the man

Move, chock him Let's go, move, move

I think if I don't say it, we've been out here a little too long

It won't feed me, you know Where's Officer Country? We need a drink Ah, yes, sir

Yes, sir I want you to take a six-by and take this man to the officers' club Yes, sir

Make sure you go the short way on the south

side of the island All right, this way, sirs.

Who ever heard of playing the field on one

side of the island and the camp on the other?

Gentlemen, should we check the plane? I get it.

Okay.

Nice doggy.

Nice doggy.

That's not a dog, T.J. That's a wolf

If we had some fresh meat or something, we could

crush meat When's the last time you saw fresh meat?

Give me a shirt.

That's real Don't get her, boy Go, go, go.

Hey, there must be a gross in here Two-by.

Hey, you know what?

We could trade the seed piece with that beer cooler

Have nice, cold beer Cold beer? This ain't so nice

When you get soft chublips, we could have cold beer Yes, soft.

You college whores won't get in the heap of trouble Ah, get lost.

Huh?

I didn't warn you.

Whoa

You says there's no Christmas at the south of the city.

They got these pair of plugs.

You don't go up at the same time every day No, irregular intervals.

Why don't we go in under the radar, on the deck?

On the deck, we could get within 10 miles that the entire Imperial fleet never seen

And there's another consideration Zeros love to catch us so close to the water

In the Navy, we're used to flying on the deck I mean, I've been bounced down there

and I've never come out on the short end yet Well, then you were lucky

Major, why don't we discuss how you are going to fly the mission

I have got to get back to this, because, Mark

Yes, sir, I'll take my boys up in the slot first

You follow in 10 minutes with 500 pounders We'll take the zeros, you take the ship

Greg, could we reverse that?

I mean, Admiral Hawkins would just love it if the wolves could get some quick kills

But your boys have never tangled with zeros Don't you think it would be better to...

to ease them into it?

Now, I know you're in command here, but Admiral Hawkins isn't here.

You ever heard of putting the field on one

side of the island and the camp on the other?

What are you talking about?

Hey, here's our airplane

and our line crew

They ran us on a wild goose chase

Who did?

The line crew Excuse me, I thought I'd like you to meet my pilots The black sheep.

These refugees are pilots?

I don't look like a pilot No, you.

..

Knock it off!

Knock it off!

This club is secured, move out!

Move it!

Gentlemen, I don't like this situation any more than you do

but until you sink that radar ship you're just going to have

to live with it Whose guy's thought we were the line crew?

You don't look good enough to be a line crew and the colonel's right.

I don't want any trouble.

Colonel Lloyd!

Sir!

I want to talk to you, sir.

We came in here with a plane load of gear This is what we got.

Well, I'll take care of it, sir And keep your dog

away from Sheba, she's in heat Come on, meatball.

Boy, do I care Do I care?

We took off a schedule 15 minutes before the

wolves which put us about 60 miles ahead of them

I knew the radar ship would pick us up and hide until we passed

but with luck, they'd be coming back out about the time the wolves swept over

I wanted that radar ship quickly, for a lot of reasons

Not the least of which was getting the wolves off the island

before we had a war between the black sheep and the Navy.

I'm getting tired of seeing you on your back, TJ.

Hey, it's not my fault, Pappy Until Micklin gets me a

new accumulator It's the only way they can come out.

No stunting, huh?

All right, wolves.

Man up.

We got seats 11 o'clock blue.

We got an angle on it, Pappy.

Take what you can, but keep moving north.

Zero at two o'clock What do you say, bud?

Are we gonna let the jarheads get all the glory?

First division, go get them All right, come on, wolves.

We got her, we got her.

Wait till those jarheads hear about that I had a veterinarian coming

once the peachy bones cleaned their teeth Major.

We have most of our tents back We were still missing

a gross of toilet paper Ten boxes of Hershey bars.

Two electric razors Seven personal photographs Six of girlfriends.

One of a mother.

They've been out for too long Leave the list.

And I'll see what I can do One of a mother.

I thought you said no stunting, Major That's right, that's what I said

One of your pilots did a roll on takeoff and all my boys saw it

Well, that was TJ That's the only way he can get his gear up.

Oh.

Huh.

Well, did you hear that we got a zero?

Did you hear that two cargo planes went down?

You've been up there for two weeks without scoring, Major This was our first mission

We've been flying without a squadron cover You can,

Major, any time you say That's not enough for discussion

Are you afraid that me and my boys will run up a score?

You and your boys couldn't run up a score in San Diego on a payday

You don't fly teams, no coordination You're not a

squadron, you're a gaggle Now, let me tell you something.

If you and your squadron ever chase cripples

or drop eggs I personally am the ground you.

And your squadron, is that clear, mister?

Bars closed

Yes, thank you, Dottie You boys were told to report for your

semi-annual flight physicals at 1600 Wednesday It's 3.

30 Last Wednesday.

You're a week overdue

You either get them now or you're grounded

Oh, right, are you gonna fly a place for us?

Give us an hour, please.

I mean it.

Let's go.

Put a beer down, the card, let's go All right, all right All right.

T.J.

Okay, okay.

In a minute.

In a minute Good afternoon, ma'am Good afternoon.

Thank you, Nancy.

Mind if I join you?

You holding up the drink?

No.

Okay.

You know, that zero really got inside me today.

Yeah, they have a nasty habit of doing things like that.

You guys don't seem to have any trouble with them?

Hey, maybe it's your airplane.

What is it, T.J.

? Nothing, Doug.

How high were you when you tangled with that Zeke? About 10,000.

Lucky.

Lucky? What do you mean lucky?

Nothing, you'll be just fine.

Just let me give you a tip, stay as high as you can in this thing.

You trying to tell me that this airplane is no good?

T.J., this is the newest, hottest course air off the line

It carries twice the ammo, additional armor plating, a

water injection system for a boost of 250 horsepower.

Pylons for bombs, the drop tanks, new gun sights, I know You flown one of these?

Dougie, you're a nice guy Just keep your altitude and remember, you're packing

about 2,000 more pounds of junk than you need You'll be okay.

It's too heavy, huh?

Yeah, I didn't say that Don't you tell anybody I

said that I won't You get me in a lot of trouble.

Last guy who squawked about flying these got sent to the Aleutians.

Not me I don't like the snow.

T.J.

Look, we were told that these planes... Oh, I know, I know, so wait.

Hey, let me show you what you should be flying.

See, T.J., that looks kind of beat.

Hey, no offense, Dougie But it takes an experienced eye to judge a fighting ship.

Come on.

Huh?

What do you think? I think.

..

Hey, T.J.

Are these bullet holes? Sure.

Would you mind if... No, be my guest.

You've only got one kill

Hey, you know, some guys go in for hanging that junk all over their bird

Good ones don't have to flaunt it Yeah.

Some of your instruments are missing.

It's all in the balance.

The balance between nerve and weight

A good pilot doesn't need all that garbage Give me a full moon and a 20 knot tailwind

I'll fly this bird all the way to Tokyo We got a compass.

T.J.

I got an idea.

Yeah? Look, doctor.

There you go.

The bird better have my spare.

Admiral Hook can send me He's saying congratulations for your zero

Great, a good guy A Turkey About your friends Yeah.

What else we got here?

Hey, you got any parts in that arc for the two-fourteenth?

Nope, just the admiral's cook and some goodies for his boys.

Well, you tell that candy button two-stripe

That Master Sergeant Andy Mifflin's gonna stuff him in his own pocket

If he fly in the wall off the store at a restaurant

He can sure as hell find the parts I need Hey.

Wait a minute, Sergeant Sir, wait a minute

You don't talk about an Navy admiral that way Do you understand me?

Oh, I don't Let me give you a little taste of how I talked to Lieutenant Commander.

Boyington!

I thought I was dreaming that this real Turkey I smell And cranberry sauce

And pumpkin pie And fresh fruit Okay, you guys, are we gonna take this?

Seems to me we asked for it.

Attention here, attention please.

I would like to propose a toast To admiral C.

W. Hawkins, the finest commander in the fleet And to the loveliest nurses

Correct that, loveliest women On either side of the Pacific Here, here.

Hey, I know how we can get in there.

Come on, Sergeant Come on, Sergeant Come on,

Sergeant I am sure I had 10, 20, 30, 40, 45

Ah, thank you very much Alright, get in here Alright, alright Okay, 10, 10's my point

10's my point Alright, tell you what $100 says

he rolled a 6 and an 8 Before he gets to 10 6 and an 8?

Oh, you're on Give me the 10, 10 for trap 10 for trap.

6, 6, 6, 8.

Okay, here we go What's bothering you, T.J.

? What's bothering you?

You wondering what's bothering me?

The way you sell out for a Turkey dinner.

Well, it wasn't the dinner, T.J.

What was it? Here you are.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Thank you very much, Sergeant Thank you very much

10!

I don't want to tell you It's a 10, I'm hot Come on, pay off Yeah, you're hot

Hot for nickels and dimes Why don't you roll for some real dough?

Alright, alright Put your roof.

It's all out there.

Somebody cover me here We're tapped out.

U-sharp, he's got the class to take an I.O.

U Sure, you got collateral with us Alright, here we go.

Okay, is this X-6 my point?

Shiba, Shiba, come here Shiba, come here Shiba, get over here Shiba!

You want me to catch her for you, come in?

No, no, it's alright.

You could do me a favor, though Go tell Louie To make me a Turkey sandwich

A cold Turkey sandwich on rye bread Lots of Mayo Lots of lettuce You haven't heard.

Heard what?

We lost Louie to the 214th in a crap game.

Louie?

Boington!

We took off the next morning to try again

It was the same mission, the same 20-minute interval

The only difference was TJ somehow had talked Dougie out of his airplane

TJ, I can't get the landing gear to retract.

Just roll her over.

Gear up, thanks.

Any fuel gauges and reading?

Oh, yeah, a truck turning on the landing lines.

Quiet, across to something TJ, if that boy gets hurt, you're going to answer to me

Hey, come on, Pappy, I fly it Six, ten o'clock high.

We're done!

This bird's higher than born on a Saturday night.

Bridge, keep your eyes open.

Watch out on your left, open up, open up.

Keep your eyes peeled

The sooner we get that radar ship, the sooner we can go after those zeroes.

What?

A ship in water up points that boot.

That's her.

Let's go, wolves.

Whoo! She's a sittin' duck!

We got her, we got her! No!

We got her!

The counter tower, wolves lean her Radio Adderall C.W. Hawkins, comm, south pack.

Spotted, Japanese radar ship two miles off points

that boot, period Sunk, same, period Warren.

Looks like they've had it Take them home, K.C.

I want to see what's left of their radar ship.

I'm not so sure I'm going to fly with you Quiet, Rick's up there.

First it looked like a legit kill, but something was

bugging me On the third pass, I knew what it was.

We got her, I can't believe it I saw it, but I

don't believe it No sailor boys, really got her.

We got her, ow!

I think that Corsair, we shot down two weeks ago

And you're just too crazy to admit it I think he might be right about that

Go switch back, come on, I'll buy you a drink.

Hey, Mick, did you know anything about radar?

Uh, a little

Well, how much would a ship's radar dish weigh?

I said I knew a little.

What do you think it could float?

About like a bowling ball.

Damn, man

That's what I thought

Boy, I think congratulations are in order All right Ow! It's all right.

Yes, I could dummy.

What?

I flew over the wreckage

Part of the superstructure, the bridge

The entire radar dish, they were floating It must have been made of wood.

You are nuts I saw it blow.

You saw it dummy blow.

Ever since we landed on this rock You have been jealous of us

You were jealous of our gear, you're jealous of our Corsairs

Even our cook

And now you can't stand a thought

That we have done something that you and your black sheep couldn't do

We sank that radar ship You sank a dummy.

And that's what's going on my report.

I'm sorry.

You gonna let me get away with that? Hey, grab it.

No.

I think it's about time.

That we sheared us some sheep.

Stealing the admiral's chief cook Oh, sir, we won that cook in a crappier.

Misappropriation of government property One Corsair, three five seven seven niner

Sir, that was, um, a simple horse trading, sir.

Exhibiting, Mark disrespect for a fellow offset.

I'm afraid you have me there, sir I don't want you anywhere, Boyington

It took every trick in the book to stop

Admiral Hawkins from having you court marching Shut up.

Mm.

Ooh, lousy Navy chow Sir, why don't you use our cookies available?

I didn't give you a ease, mister.

In three hours.

Ten thousand marines will sail up this slot to invade Arabella

If that radar ship is still there Most of them will end

up on the bottom But with a list of charges Warren made

How the hell can you expect anyone to believe you?

At ease, at ease, great Thanks.

Now, the admiral has ordered the 214 to stand down

Now, I convinced him that until the invasion is over We needed the air support

He agreed on one condition

That Warren be put in command.

Sir, that man is so green he can't whip his own men into line

You should have thought of that before you started a war

with the Navy Now, I don't give a damn who's in charge.

The only thing I care about are those marines So do I, sir.

Then what are you going to do about that radar ship?

I don't know, sir.

I spent all night thinking about those marines Then I got an idea

There was this beat-up glider sitting out by the edge of the runway

Our gliders were made of wood And wood doesn't get picked up on radar Morning, sir

Where are your men? We take off in five minutes.

Love you, Lon.

Look, mon, no teeth.

Hey, look.

You want to go on up, sailor?

You better button up, marine.

I am in charge I think he's mad.

Changing the flight plan We go up first You follow, Major And about 20.

Oh, let's make that 30 minutes.

What do you want?

He's changing the flight plan He wants us up in 30 minutes

We wait 30 minutes, half those birds will be in the drink

That's right, boy, we'll go up for five minutes.

Let's just see how those black sheep like holding their heels for 20 minutes.

Give me a week, three riggers, some silk and a new radio And I'll hang it in a museum

I'll give you 24 hours and it has to sail up the slot 24 hours, that's a day.

Well, Pappy, I still don't understand what you're going to do with this thing

Jerry, this bird is made out of wood and fabric

It can't be picked up by the radar, so we take it up, release it over the slot

And when she spots the radar ship, we scramble

Yeah, well, I sure would want to be over the slant in

this paper cut Well, boy, you won't have to worry about it

We need someone that has some experience flying without power.

Big Don's the man.

Don's the man You're the man, you're the man You're

the man, be this Ain't that the amount of slingshot?

I'll cut you one All right, let's go Come on, let's go.

Seeks, ten o'clock low Okay, wolves, stay with your wingman.

Where did they go?

They're behind us.

Stick to your leader, swing him.

Later.

Stay down, Lord, we're coming

We could hear wolves on the radio, and it didn't sound good

Waiting just five minutes, they've been too much.

Break right 11.

Down.

Roll them down, them doggy.

Hey, I'm hit!

Damn it, boy, jump!

Ducky!

May I come in?

Is that your first letter?

No, it's not much help, but it never gets any

easier No matter how many times you have to do it.

Well, you're a gaggle, man

Well, up there today, there was no teamwork, no coordination.

All the fancy insignias and blue scarves in the world isn't going to change that.

I asked Admiral Hawkins to relieve me Why?

Why?

Because I don't want to be responsible for their lives Who the hell does?

I don't know, but somebody who's experienced, somebody who's been a leader

Quit kidding yourself, bud, there aren't any spare ones around

He'll be someone just like yourself He'll make the same mistakes, maybe even worse.

Whether you like it or not, you're the leader.

And after what happened today, I don't think you got to let him down.

Tell you, Greg, I...

I don't think we're ever going to agree on anything I hope not.

Here.

Fan dance leader, this is Lacava, what is your ETA?

This is fan dance leader.

Take it all.

Roger fan dance leader, we'll be waiting with the red carpet Lacava out.

What do you think, Sarge?

Well, you get it up, and I'll guarantee you, it'll come back down.

Thanks a lot.

Come on up, Don.

Look, I've been thinking about you.

I'll get in, I'll get in myself.

Don?

Yeah, Pepe?

Don't go chasing these zeros, huh?

Right For luck, Dan.

Thanks a lot, Bobby Thanks for the piece of cake, huh?

Yeah, I'll see you guys in a little while Hey, T.

J., there's not a seat in here, you want it? Next time.

Get that radio message out Yes, sir, just like you said

Open channel and all, everybody in South Pacific, right?

Gina Morrison in the scrambler's room.

Come on, speak for me.

This is Warren, sir What the hell is going on over this mission when Lacava's

saying brass was crossing the slot in a transport plane?

Uh, General, this is Boynton, I can explain, sir

Explain it?

Boynton, Admiral Hawkins is over the slot with

Colonel Lard and a plane load about his fondant

They're on the way to Lacava to decorate Warren and his squadron

If that radar ship is still out there, he'll be

sending ducks We better get America out of here

If Admiral Hawkins doesn't live to shoot you, I will

But hold it We've got Hawkins up there in the slot

Well, you sunk that radar ship, they're not in any danger

Except for the fact that you told every Japanese

squadron in the whole area that they're up there

I didn't tell them where they were now, did I?

The slot is a hundred miles wide

By the time the zero-spot'll be here, right

here on the ground We can't count on that.

We can't if that ship you sunk wasn't it, don't he?

Now, I'm trying to set up a trap

Right now, I got Trench over the slot in a glider where radar cannot pick him up

If he sees that ship, he'll let us know

You send up those corsairs, they're gonna pick

you up on radar And duck and run for cover.

Look, we got an Admiral's life at stake and he can't, you can't ask me to take...

So are the lives of several thousand Marines.

Now, you're in command.

You make that decision.

LaCava, this is Hawk, I got her spotted.

Flight cover, we'll take the ship You got it.

You're as safe as in your mother's arms.

This pair of Cirrus up here pounding the hell out of R-14.

That guy's trying to duck into a coffin.

What about the ship?

She's turning tails, she's a D, moving fast for those

islands west of Arabella We think the R-14 made it.

She's heading to the south side of San Rivo Island, coordinates 825-67.

Come on, Papis, she's gonna make it if you don't get here soon, come on Let's do it.

Anybody take any hits?

French was getting so good, he made it all

the way back to LaCava in that paper airplane And I? I was in deep trouble

By sending false messages which endangered the

lives of staff officers and civilian correspondents.

Before I'm through with you, Major, you're going to

be skipping barnacles off my barge Excuse me, Adil?

Something to add, bud?

Yes, sir

If you're going to court-martial Major Boyington, sir,

I think you're going out to court-martial me, too.

I was in command and I did authorize that mission, sir.

I may just do that.

Welcome to the war, Commander.