American aviator and businessman Howard Hughes having lunch at a restaurant in Chicago on May 14, 1936. Other people sitting and standing behind him. Hughes stands up from his seat. View of propeller on his Northrop Gamma 2G airplane being started. Hughes has his goggles on his head and takes off toward California. View of Union Air Terminal (2627 N Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505, United States) in Burbank, California. Hughes steps out of plane in Los Angeles after 8 hours flight. In next scene, aviator Amy Johnson, CBE, wife of Jim Mollison, emerges from her Percival Gull Sixplane. G-ADZO, in Cape Town, South Africa on May 7, 1936 after a record-setting four day and sixteen hours flight from London. A large crowd waits to see her. People greet her with flowers. Johnson is seen among the large crowd and smiling and waving to the crowd. Scenes in clip are from a 1961 newsreel recounting events roughly 25 years prior.
U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt warns of an increasing danger of armed conflict (increasing danger of war leading up to World War 2). Roosevelt's motorcade on the streets of Chicago. A large crowd gathered to get a glimpse of the President. Confetti rained on the motorcade. Soldiers salute as the motorcade passes by. Policemen on motorbikes lead the motorcade. People gathered at the venue to hear the President's speech. A board advertises candy bars 'Baby Ruth, Butterfinger" in the background. President Roosevelt with officials on stage. He addresses the crowd. Excerpts from his speech are interspersed with scenes of war and conflict elsewhere in the world during the late 1930's. Roosevelt speaks of recent events of "international lawlessness" including in the last few years "unjustified interference in the internal affairs of other nations." Scenes that follow include aerial bombings, naval attacks, and war: Scenes of war carnage during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-1936: Ethiopian soldiers on horseback cross a bridge, Italian forces fire artillery from a hill, aerial view as aircraft drop bombs. Italian soldiers pass a burning, smoldering building and overtake an Ethiopian position, with many Ethiopian soldiers lying dead. Ethiopian citizens in area of a war torn village. Bomb damage and war casualties on the street. Italian soldiers collect dead bodies and load them onto a truck. A ship quickly sinking after attack by a submarine. Scenes from battle during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 or 1937. Spanish nationalist and rebel soldiers engage in a battle in a village. Spanish prisoners are marched. Nationalist soldier fires machine gun from a balcony emplacement. Dead body on a road. Soldiers behind a barricade fire at opposition and carry wounded on stretchers. President Roosevelt concludes his speech with, "America hates war. America hopes for peace. Therefore, America actively engages in the search for peace." People applaud.
A newsreel titled 'Lunches in Chi. Hops to L.A. For his dinner.' Howard Hughes, famed industrialist and aviator, is seen dressed in a suit and tie, seated in a Chicago restaurant having lunch. He finishes and leaves. The next scene shows nose of a Northrop Gamma 2G airplane with engine running. A brief glimpse of Hughes,still in suit and tie, wearing leather flying helmet with goggles pushed up on his forehead. With Hughes piloting, the airplane taxis and takes off from Chicago. It is seen in a gentle left bank as it departs. Later, Hughes is seen landing at Union Air Terminal in Burbank, California. Hughes is seen in opened cockpit as he taxis in to the parking ramp. He taxis past a Stinson hangar, parks, and climbs down from the aircraft. He is accompanied by a number of men as he walks across the parking ramp. (Note: Howard Hughes is flying a modified Gamma 2G airplane, number NC13761,that he leased from famous woman aviator, Jacqueline Cochran, who ordered it powered by a liquid-cooled 700-hp Curtiss Conqueror engine,driving a two-blade propeller. Hughes modified it with a 1000-hp Wright SR-1820-G2 radial engine, driving a three-blade constant speed propeller, and used it to set a new transcontinental nonstop record, flying from Burbank, California to Newark, New Jersey in 9 hours 26 minutes 10 seconds with an average speed of 259 mph, on 13-14 January 1936. The flight shown here set a speed record of 8 hours and 10 minutes from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California.)
Crew work on Howard Hughes' rented Northrop Gamma 2G (NR13761) aircraft, before his speed record setting flight from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1936. View of the Northrop Gamma 2G aircraft from tail. Scene changes to interior of a Chicago restaurant where Howard Hughes is having lunch with a friend. He stands, preparing to exit and fly, with the goal of having dinner in Los Angeles the same day. Airport terminal buildings in background as Hughes pilots the aircraft, and taxis before takeoff. View of the aircraft after take off and in flight overhead. It set a new speed record, reaching Los Angeles in 8 hours and 10 minutes, and traveling at 215 mph.
Chicago police officials burn a quarter-million dollars worth of packaged heroin, opium, marijuana in Chicago, Illinois. Officials mound captured illegal drugs into a pile. They display paraphernalia including pipes and needles that are used by addicts. Police officers inspect pipes. They pour liquid fuel over the drugs and ignite it on fire. The pile of narcotics going up in flames.
A three-foot water main bursts in the new Post Office building in Chicago,Illinois. The foaming water pours into Union Station, flooding the tracks and halting rail traffic for many hours.