The man looks murderous, but Rafe draws back the board.
RAFE:
I'll bust you open, you...German!
The words ring something deep in the man's booze-broken brain. He begins to cough, convulsively; it brings a blossom of blood to his mouth. He wipes it with his hand, but blood clings to his teeth. He chokes out -- DANNY'S FATHER I fought the Germans.
He looks at Danny in shame, with the realization of what he's just done. He turns and staggers away.
Danny looks at Rafe -- a communication between boys joined by something deeper than blood. Then Danny runs off after his father.
DANNY:
Daddy! Daddy! Wait.
Danny catches him, takes his father's hand, and walks away with him.
The crop duster we saw in the air has just landed, behind Rafe. The pilot, RAFE'S FATHER, shuts off the engine.
RAFE'S FATHER What's goin' on, son?
RAFE:
Nothing. Danny's Dad just come to get him.
Rafe turns back to the ramshackle plane and replaces the 2x4 propeller. His father looks toward Danny and his father, walking away, then looks at his own son.
RAFE'S FATHER Hey, boy -- you wanna go up?
Rafe can't believe it; he runs to the plane and hops into his father's lap. As his father cranks the engine and tucks him into the harness, Rafe says --
RAFE:
Daddy, sometime will you take Danny up too?
RAFE'S FATHER Sure will, son.
The engine races to life...and we --
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. NEW JERSEY AIR BASE - DAY American P-40 fighters blast through the air, props screaming and wind singing by their wings.
There are eight pilots in their individual seats, and we
focus on two:
RAFE MCCAWLEY has grown lean and handsome.
And DANNY WALKER is very much the same.
Their planes start swapping positions in the formation; while the other guys are flying along in a tight line, Rafe and Danny are playing, one of them gunning his engine to go high, the other diving and coming back up in his place, leapfrogging.
It scares the other guys, having their planes flashing in and out, so close. The TRAINING CAPTAIN, watching through binoculars on the ground, talks into his RADIO -- TRAINING CAPTAIN McCawley! Walker! Cut that out!