Scenes of Cuban Air Force Base and headquarters, at Campo Columbia near Havana, Cuba, and aircraft acquired from the United States Air Force. Film opens with U.S. Air Force sergeant photographer holding a slate marked roll #1, LETO. He is dressed in starched khaki uniform. Other U.S. Airmen stand behind him. Scene shifts to a North American T-6 trainer airplane, Number 119, with skin removed from forward fuselage. A maintenance stand and tools are positioned in front of the aircraft. Hangar number 3 sits behind the T-6. The camera pans right showing two bubble-top P-47Ds parked on the ramp. The first displays number 458 (One of twenty-nine P-47s purchased from the USAF in the period, May, 1952 through June 1953). Work is being performed on the engine of the other. Camera panning right shows another T-6. Also seen is a Lockheed C-56 Lodestar (Lockheed Model 18) that was purchased in 1950 and numbered CU-EDU 2. It is parked in front of a low building with parapets and a flag flying atop it. A large multistory Headquarters building, topped with a control tower is seen in background. Closeup of another P-47 parked on edge of ramp, with its tail in the grass. Camera is moved back showing P-47s and T-6s on ramp in front of the headquarters building. Next, several U.S. Airmen are seen walking across the ramp towards the operations office on ground floor of the Headquarters building. More views of P-47s and T-6s plus a Consolidated PBY 0A-10 Catalina amphibious aircraft parked on the airfield. Several C-47 (DC-3) transport aircraft are seen at the end of the film.
1952: Fulgencio Batista seizes power in Cuba. Batista and his men enter Camp Columbia and win over the garrison. The soldiers pick up arms. The convoy leaves for the Presidential Palace in Havana. A pilot climbs into the cockpit of an airplane. Rafael Salas Canizares, the new Chief of Police, directs his men in his office. He goes into a building and talks to his radio operator. Obsolete ships of the Cuban Navy in the bay. Officers converse before a map on the wall. Cars and tanks on their way to the Presidential Palace. President Carlos Prio Socarras takes sanctuary in the Mexican Embassy. The Republic of Cuba flag, and the Democratic constitution suspended. Ousted President Carlos Prio Socarras leaves for Mexico with his family. The Presidential Palace in Havana. Batista during a meeting with his Cabinet. University of Havana students carry out a mock funeral of the Cuban constitution. Police officers and officials inside the Fifth National Police Station. Seeds of revolution against Batista are sown: Leader of the student movement, Jose Antonio Echeverria, encourages his fellow students to act. A pro-Batista faction smears the statue of a student hero with red paint. Students gather and demonstrate on the streets. The police try to control the demonstration. Explosions during the demonstrations. A wounded student leader protesting against Batista is taken to a hospital, where he dies. Students carry his casket down the steps of a building. Student demonstrators hang Batista in effigy. Police arrests students in the University campus. The students are defended by a former Senator in court. Newspaper headlines about the various shootings. A man killed during a police raid. Rafael Salas Canizares is made Brigadier. Proceedings underway in the Department of Investigation. The Minister of Interior meets with radio executives and publishers and orders censorship. People around a car with the words 'Censored' and 'Censorship' painted on it.