The officious Roberts subsequently turns down Paul's pending promotion to full colonel, but Paul's tenaciousness in standing up to Roberts impresses visiting Maj. Roberts, when he questions an order to fly futile missions. Tibbets, Jr., she recalls the past two years: In North Africa, Paul, an Army Air Corps pilot, incurs the anger of his commander, Gen. In 1945, as Lucey Tibbets waits at a Washington, D.