I have only seen this film once, when it originally aired on television. As I recall, it was not a great effort, the plot needed a lot more work to be believable. Ron Howard plays a young Naval Ensign during World War II, who has just washed out of flight school and is returning to his mid-western home in disgrace. His refusal to fly after seeing a comrade die during a training flight has caused his discharge from the Navy. His father, Ben Johnson, has little sympathy for him as do most of the others in his small farming community. The war has demanded many sacrifices of the young men in the area and Howard is looked on as one who was found lacking in courage. Eventually, a locust infestation provides the vehicle for his redemption. With the help of an old biplane pilot and his girlfriend, Howard regains his confidence and gets behind the controls of a crop-dusting plane and uses his piloting skills to stem the locust infestation.