 Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1942, it appeared in movie theaters nationwide beginning in late May 1942 and resulted in 150,000 new recruits.Stewart was concerned that his celebrity status would relegate him to duties behind the lines.After spending over a year training pilots at Kirtland Army Airfield in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he appealed to his commander, and was sent to England as part of the 445th Bombardment Group, to pilot a B-24 Liberator, in November 1943.