Animated map shows U.S. forces extending control in the Pacific the the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in the Pacific during World War 2. An American soldier sentry near a destroyed Japanese reinforced concrete bunker. Another looks at a destroyed Japanese coastal gun. More American soldiers looking over destroyed Japanese coastal defenses. A destroyed Japanese type 95 HA-GO tank. A U.S. troops look at a destroyed Japanese Mitsubishi G4M (Betty) bombers on a captured airfield. Animated map of New Guinea.showing Allied advance to Hollandia. U.S. aircraft carriers with their aircraft flying overhead. Closeup from behind of a Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft taking off from a carrier. Formations of U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft in flight overhead. Escort aircraft carriers (called "Jeep" carriers by the narrator) are seen with decks full of airplanes. Douglas SBD Dauntless aircraft taxiing on a carrier deck. An F6F fighter plane taking off. A formation of Douglas SBD Dauntless airplanes viewed from above, flying over the sea. Gun camera films from U.S. aircraft strafing parked airplanes on Japanese airfields.
Pilots of the U.S. Army Air Forces 80th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, ("Headhunters") ride on hood of a jeep to their P-38 aircraft during World War 2. Squadron Commander, Ace, Major Jay T. Robbins, stands in front of a P-38, with his hand on a propeller.(Film is reversed). He converses with crew chief. P-38s taxiing out for a mission. A crewman wearing a headset climbs out of cockpit of a P-38 and slides down the its wing. View from another airplane, in flight, of a P-38 making a pass close to the camera plane. Aerial view of a military installation on the ground.
A PBY Catalina of the U.S. Army Air Force, 2nd Emergency Squadron rescues a P-38 pilot. The PBY Catalina flies over water. Two P-38 planes in flight. The PBY Catalina lands in water. A P-38 pilot in water near the raft. The pilot climbs aboard. He writes on a paper. Another man near him. The pilot dries himself and wraps himself up in a blanket. He talks with the pilot of the PBY Catalina while the co-pilot is at controls. He is handed a steel cup with a spoon. Aerial view of Norotai air strip. The PBY Catalina lands. The rescued P-38 pilot climbs out. Another man follows. The rescued pilot shakes hands with a man.
Mechanics of the U.S. Army Air Forces 80th Fighter Squadron ("Headhunters") perform maintenance on a P-38 Lightning aircraft in New Guinea, during World War 2. A small dog stands on the wing next to men as they work on an engine. Two flights of four P-38s fly in in formation. A squadron of P-38s seen in flight. Several different views of the P-38s in formation with clouds behind. One scene shows P-38s illuminated by sunlight from above against contrasting dark water below. View from cockpit of a P-38 with pilot visible and another P-38 seen through cockpit window. Pilot waves at the other P-38 which rocks its wings. A P-38 passes in opposite direction.
United States bombers attack Tobera Airdrome, an Imperial Japanese aerodrome located near Rabaul, Papua New Guinea during World War II. Aerial view of Tobera. A thick pillar of smoke and explosion rises from Tobera. Shadows of multiple aircraft are seen on aerial view of Tobera Airfield. Aerial view of the coast of Keravat, near Tobera Airfield. A group of bombers in flight. Five United States Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers flying away.
U.S. and Japanese forces battle during the Bougainville Campaign of World War II. A U.S. Army Air Forces Grasshopper light aircraft takes off to conduct a reconnaissance mission against Japanase forces who hold part of Bougainville, New Guinea. The aircraft in flight over difficult terrain, flying slowly at tree-top height. The pilot spots Japanese positions and radios the ground forces. U.S. artillery is positioned and fired. They blast revealed Japanese positions. Infantry units land near the Jaba River and progress to clean up isolated Japanese troops. A Grasshopper in flight overhead.