In May 1932, on the invitation of General Italo Balbo, Italy's Minister of the Air, over fifty transoceanic aviators convened in Rome, Italy, to discuss the future of transoceanic aviation. The event was hosted by the Italian Aero Club. A procession of motor cars in pairs carries famous aviators through the streets of Rome as crowds cheer. The crowd swarms around the cars. Scene changes to the motor cars unloading where Harold Gatty, Australian aviator and navigator, is escorted forward. The procession is paused as the aviators walk up the steps of the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (Vittoriano) to pay homage to Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Tomba del Milite Ignoto). The large group descend the steps. A closer shot shows a small group of figures including Sir Hubert Wilkins, Australian aviation pioneer. Scene changes again to thousands of spectators cheering in the Piazza Colonna in Rome. Figures wave to the crowd from an elevated balcony.
420 midshipmen "middies" are rewarded diplomas at Dahlgreen Hall during annual U.S. Naval Academy exercises in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 2, 1932. Wide view of the decorated Dahlgreen Hall shows the graduating U.S. Navy class wearing white and a large crowd of underclassmen and attendees. A closer shot displays a small section of the crowd and graduating class. The midshipmen walk single file across the stage to receive their diplomas, shaking hands with a man at the front. Scene cuts to a wide view where underclassmen, seated on either side of the graduating class, raise their covers in unison toward the graduating class. The graduating midshipmen repeat the gesture, tossing their covers into the air. Scene moves outside to newly commissioned officer Richard S. Mandelkorn of Peoria, graduating with highest honors in his class. Mabel Dyer of Ruxton, Maryland, places his shoulder straps on his uniform, and the two shake hands. Close up of Mandelkorn as he adjusts and removes his cover. Large artillery barrels are visible in the background.
A steam shovel moves large rock into open-top gondola railroad car. Men stand to the side of the machine, watching. Close up of the shovel carrying debris. Scene changes to view of the expansive, rapidly-moving Colorado River. Another shot looks out from a hill over a forest, water visible under and around the trees. Multiple panoramic shots of flooding from moving train car, train cars in view are full of debris. Cattle wade through floodwater beside the moving train. Two men release the side-gate of a rail car, allowing debris to spill out. View of the flooding with mountains in background. Groups of men use hands and shovels to build embankments along the waterside. Close-up of churning water.
Luna Park in Coney Island, New York, opens to 5200 orphans from New York City. Children, many wearing white, walk in large groups on the park grounds. A vendor hands out ice cream cones at a counter. Children eat ice cream and other food. A large crowd sits in the stands of an arena, watching children on the dirt below attempt to ride a mule. One boy is knocked over by the animal, but another succeeds and climbs its back to ride. Boys and girls climb over a short fence. Scene changes to view from moving coaster known as the "Shoot the Chutes" as it speeds down an incline and splashes into water. Shots from and of a moving coaster as it goes up and down multiple hills. Older boys sit at the front. Man performing a human cannonball act climbs into the barrel of a large cannon, and a young boy licks an ice cream cone. Smoke puffs from the barrel of the cannon as the man is propelled from the cannon. He soars through the air, arms outstretched before tucking forward and landing on a taut net.
A U.S. Army soldier lays prone in the foreground, looking at a destroyed German tank in flames on the side of the road, three days after the Allied invasion of France in WW2. Smoke billows from the tank. A transport vehicle passes carrying a group of U.S. Army soldiers with rifles. Another smaller vehicle passes by the tank. Closer shots show the tank wreckage left on the road, fire burning on the treads.
U.S. Army Caterpillar D7 tractor tows a LeTourneau carryall LS scraper through sand along the Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach, three days after the Allied invasion of France during WW2. Soldiers walk past carrying material on their shoulders. A Rhino ferry comes in for landing on the beach, carrying dozens of men and vehicles. An M3 half-track drives off the ferry into the water, toward the beach, carrying men. Wide sweeping shot of the beachhead shows lines of U.S. soldiers on the move, U.S. ships, barrage balloons, and a crane.
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