Exteriors of the suburban Cross County Center shopping center in Yonkers, New York in the late 1950s. Camera pans across the Grand Union grocery store advertising its gravity-fed "Food -O-Mat" shelving system. There is also an automat in front of the store for a number of items. Close up view of an automat automatic vending machine. Man pulls a box of cornflakes from the machine after inserting coins. View of grocery store puchases from the Grand Union supermarket in large bins on a conveyor belt, as they roll to bag boys outside the store, who lift the bags into the cars of waiting customers. A car pulls up to a drive in window at the Peoples Trust Bank and the driver deposits a large bag of money into the teller drawer. Elevated view of the Cross County Center open air suburban shopping center and many 1950s cars parked in the parking lots. Signs seen at shopping center include "Lerner Shops" and "Gimbels". Many cars on the nearby roads and parking lots.
Activities of the U.S. civil defense officials in El Paso, Texas, during "Operation Alert" (civilian mass evacuation drill during Cold War preparations for potential nuclear weapon attack). A civil defense official pulls down the handle of a Thunderbeam siren control boxes on a tower. A tower with insulators on top. A line of cars being driven on road including a school bus. Mountains in the background. A U.S. aircraft in flight above the cars. A civil defense flag in the background. A civil defense official speaks on microphone. Side of the car reads 'Texas department public safety'. Officials move around cars. A civil defense official talks to a woman, a red cross worker. An American red cross flag in the background. A line of cars leave. An official directs the cars.
Activities of the U.S. civil defense officials in El Paso, Texas, during "Operation Alert," a Cold War mass evacuation drill in preparation for potential nuclear weapon attack. A board reads 'El Paso City Limit pop. 182500'. Buses parked on road side. Automobile traffic in front of the buses. A line of cars being driven on road. A helicopter in flight above the cars. A civil defense official holds a civil defense flag and directs the cars. Wing of the aircraft in flight. Civil defense officials work on a map. Automobile traffic in front of a truck and a motorbike parked on ground. A U.S. aircraft in flight.
Continental atomic tests in Nevada, United States. B-29 bomber in flight. A cactus on a barren land. Views of cacti in field. Mountains in the background. Series of atomic bomb test explosions, including small and large bursts, both high and low, and a ground burst. Mushroom clouds rise due to explosions.
A low yield atomic explosion is conducted for experimental purpose. Smoke rises due to explosion. Sign reads "Headquarters Special Weapons Command." U.S. Air Force Major General John S. Mills steps from the headquarters building accompanied by another officer. View shifts to B-29 aircraft parked on the tarmac. A tug is pulling a B-47 aircraft. Mechanics on maintenance stands working on aircraft. Aerial view of an Air Force F-86 fighter airplane speeding past a B-29 in flight. View from directly overhead of a B-29 in flight over desert terrain. Scene transitions to view from directly underneath a B-29 in flight. Change of scene shows two women in the Weather Central of the Atomic Energy Control point, where teletype machines are printing out weather data. Meterologists plot wind data on maps. View of an atomic explosion. Closeup of the "atomic cloud." Technicians standing in a group, outdoors, observing the movement of the cloud. Next a technicial with a radiation counter walks to a helicopter, waiting with pilot already in the cockpit. He boards and the helicopter takes off. Closeup from the ground of the helicopter flying low directly toward the camera. Occupants can be seen as it fies past. Another post-explosion atomic cloud is seen. A B-29 in flight overhead. View of a pilot wearing helmet and oxygen mask, inside the cockpit. View of cloud through which they are flying. More views of pilot inside. A B-36 aircraft in flight with blue sky in background. Closeup of a C-47 aircraft in flight, with a sampler attached to the top of its fuselage. Crewman inside an aircraft attending to camera equipment. Other cremen at complex recording devices. View of a B-29 directly overhead. Crew members inside a cloud tracking aircraft. Men in a military control center receiving and plotting the cloud movement data. More views of B-29 and crew members inside. Men with hoses decontaminating a B-29 after it completed cloud tracking mission.
Continental atomic tests Nevada, United States. Air Force C-54 aircraft in flight. Air Force Flight Surgeons wear masks and observe the atomic bomb explosion from an aircraft to test its effect on a pilot's vision. They immediately test their vision, while aboard the airplane, following the atomic blast. A truck drags a P-47 airplane. B-17s, P-47s, and newer aircraft are stationed at different angles. Atomic explosion tesst the effect of this explosion on the aircraft. High-speed cameras record effects of atomic blast. Elevator on tail of a B-17 in flames. Afterwards, technicians examine the damage on the various aircraft. Views of damaged aircraft after explosion on ground. USAF B-57B aircraft in flight. B-47 takes off with JATO. Smoke trails from the boosters.