- [Gray points at his map]
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: Here: Chicago, St. Louis, Pensacola. We've got 53 old-type scout bombers, SBU-1s and 2s that have been declared surplus. We wanna get them back to Chance-Vought, Stratford, Connecticut. That's the manufacturer. Get all US Navy markings and special equipment removed. Our British friends will pick them up as-is and fly them to a carrier standing off Halifax. Now, for obvious reasons involving the Neutrality Act, this is touchy business. The idea is to get this done without leaving a conspicuous trail of blood, guts, and feathers.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Aye-aye, sir.
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: I'll put a plane at your disposal.
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: We have 60 pilots on hand and waiting. How soon do you suppose we could have those planes, captain?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Day after tomorrow, late afternoon. Would that be convenient? It'll take some time to get those markings off.
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: Day after tomorrow, you say?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Yes. The stragglers, if any, could come along on the deck of the next available cargo ship.
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: Actually, we were thinking more in terms of a week from now. You see, we've given some of our fliers leave, and it'd require a bit of rounding up.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Thursday. That gives you four days.
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: Four days?
- [to Gray]
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: You do think that's feasible.
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: He says so.
- Air Commodore Burne-Wilke: Well, then I'd better get right at this one. Admiral, Captain Henry.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Commodore.
- [Burne-Wilke exits]
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: Day after tomorrow, eh?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Admiral, I didn't really think that those fliers were all ready and waiting.
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: Well, Thursday's cutting it close enough.
- [Pug enters the Oval Office as President Roosevelt and Admiral Gray study a painting of a sailing ship]
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Hello there, captain. You know the chief of BuAir, I understand.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Admiral Gray.
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: What about this picture, Pug? You like it?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: It's fine, sir. Of course, I'm a sucker for sea scenes.
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: So am I, but do you know he's got the rigging wrong? What about that, Pug? All the man had to do was paint a sailing ship. That was his whole job and he got the rigging wrong. Well, that thing isn't gonna hang in here.
- [to Admiral Gray]
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Well, Talbot, what about it? Are we gonna put Pug Henry to work on that little thing? Will he do?
- Rear Adm. Talbot Gray: Well, if you assign Pug Henry to paint a square rigger, Mr. President, you might not recognize it, but he'd get the rigging right.
- [Pug and Pamela run into Fred Fearing at a pub in London]
- Fred Fearing: Aren't you the sly one, Reverend Henry. She's small, but saucy.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: She's the daughter of a friend of mine.
- Fred Fearing: Of course, Talky Tudsbury. Old pal of mine too.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: Exactly right. That's who she is. Her fiancé is an RAF pilot who is missing in action.
- Fred Fearing: Just so, and she might enjoy a little consolation.
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: And how would you enjoy getting knocked on your ass?
- Fred Fearing: You mean it?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: I mean it.
- Fred Fearing: [awkwardly] Uh, how's Rhoda?
- Victor 'Pug' Henry: She misses me, New York stinks, she's bored, and the weather is unbearably hot.
- Fred Fearing: Situation normal. Good old Rhoda.