A Passage Out of Sequence

On A Late November Evening In 1936 Brad Harper And Three Other Airmail Pilots Depart The Newark Nj Airport With Contaminated Fuel. Three Of Them Crash And Two Are Killed. In Early December 1940 Brad Harper Now A Member Of A Jazz Group Embarks On A Steamship In Philadelphia For A Two Week Working Cruise Promising His Family To Be Home For Christmas. When The Ship Docks In San Francisco He Unexpectedly Encounters His Uncle Jack Who Is Traveling To China To Help Operate A Flying School. Jack Tries To Entice Brad Into Joining Him But Brad Declines. However While Disembarking The Ship He Meets A Young Doctor Dorothy Lee Devereux (Dolly) And Like Jack She Is Also Traveling To The Orient. It'S Love At First Sight For Both And Brad Follows Her To China. As Luck Would Have It Both She And Jack Are Traveling To The Same City. Arriving In Kunming Brad'S Airmail Experience Puts Him In Good Stead At The Flying School And He Soon Becomes A Flight Instructor While Dolly Works At Kunming General Hospital. With War Looming He Is Reluctantly Drawn Into Clare Chennault'S Flying Tigers And Becomes A Squadron Commander. As The War Unfolds He Flies Several Missions Against The Japanese Extracts Vengeance When He Murders A Treacherous Chinese Colonel Is Involved In A Midair Collision And Faces Courts-Martial For A Mercy Killing. Soon After He And Dolly Marry He Is Injured And They Return Home With An Adopted Daughter. Recovered He Is Assigned To Deliver Aircraft To Operational Squadrons. On One Such Trip To England He Is Shanghaied Into The Eight Air Force And Detailed To A Fighter Squadron. On One Mission He So Distinguishes Himself He Comes To The Attention Of General Doolittle And Is Awarded A Very High Honor. Reluctant To Return Home He Convinces General Doolittle To Allow Him To Remain In Theater And Is Given Positions Of Increasing Responsibility. Meanwhile His Wife Remains With His Family In A Small Sea Shore Town To Practice Medici