After a briefing with the cadets, Major Joy sends each cadet up on flights in their PT-17 training aircraft with an instructor pilot. It ends tragically for cadet Johns (Pheifer), as he struggles to get his aircraft out of a stall. The instructor also tries to regain control but it is too late, as the plane crashes into a building, exploding on impact and killing both Johns and his instructor. Afterwards, cadet Leroy Cappy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) begins to let self-doubt creep in after seeing John's deadly crash and watching others leave the program. Cadets Lee and Peoples give Cappy a stern pep talk, telling him not to quit. The cadets continue their training, flying with their instructor pilots and controlling the planes on their own. Major Joy even lets cadet Lee make several solo flights around the Base. While watching a film on air combat, Lt. Glenn steps in and begins to teach the cadets. Peoples questions Lt. Glenn on why he, not Major Joy, is teaching air combat class. At this point, Lt. Glenn reveals to the cadets (most notably Peoples) that he had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he was credited with three kills, making him the only Army Air Corps officer on the base with "actual" air combat experience.