U.S. Army Air Forces C-47aircraft , number 42-93098, of the 9th Troop Carrier Command Pathfinder Group, and its crew. This is the first aircraft and crew to drop American paratroopers (pathfinders) over France during the Allied invasion, in World War 2. The aircraft taxis on a British airfield. Crew of the aircraft are seen in front of it, including pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Joel Crouch, Copilot, Captain Vito Pedone, Navigator, Captain William Culp, Radio Operator, Harold Coonrod, along with two crew chiefs. Crew members shake hands and board the aircraft. Colonel Crouch waves from the cockpit of the C-47 (but has not started engines). Major J.L. Sweetman boards another aircraft. Colonel Crouche's C-47 taxis to where the Pathfinders will load up. View of Control Tower at RAF North Witham, with ambulance parked outside it. Three hours before takeoff.Colonel Crouch, is seen on a path near the airfield, with a Pathfinder Captain and Lieutenant, who will be aboard his aircraft and be the first to jump into France. They kid around. The Pathfinder officers note that Colonel Crouch wears paratroop wings. Later, two Pathfinders, of the 101st Airborne Division , with camouflaged faces and American flag insignia on their right shoulders, step from woods and pose momentarily. Pathfinder Paratroopers line up to board C-47 aircraft as Lt. Col. Crouch rides a scooter at the airfield. Aircrews and Pathfinders pose for photographs before taking off. The lead aircraft, number 42-93098, with Lieutenant Colonel Crouch at the controls, takes off from RAF Station North Witham at 9:54 PM, on June 5, 1944. to begin the invasion of France. (Note: This C-47 was shot down on September 18, 1944, during Operation Market Garden, and crash landed on Haamstede Airbase, Netherlands. Although shot at by German troops on the ground, pilot, Maj Joseph A. Beck, and Navigator Lt. Vincent J. Paterno, survived as prisoners of war. Copilot Capt Fred O. Lorimer and another crew member were fatally shot.)
Preparations in year 1943 for the June 1944 invasion of Western Europe by Allied Force during World War 2. Conference at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London. U.S. Generals George Marshall, Henry H. Arnold and British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery meet at SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force). Montage of war scenes: British Lancaster bombers taking off. British men and women monitors working in a British Command and Intelligence Center, tracking aircraft positions on maps. U.S. B-17 bombers in daylight missions over Germany. Allied pilots and crew members in aircraft. U.S. Army Air Force B-17 aircraft at high altitudes leaving contrails behind. Bombs bursting on German industrial targets. Allied agents being airdropped over France. Allied one-man submarines or solo submarines, torpedo boats and Commandos sampling French beaches and soil conditions in the Normandy region for ability to support 30-ton tanks for the invasion of France. British airman loading reconnaissance camera into a British Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft for photographing the planned invasion region. Woman operating microscope analyzing film. Aerial reconnaissance film images being laid out and attached together to create a large overhead viewing map. Arms and equipment being air dropped to indigenous resistance forces in Nazi-occupied Europe. Mulberry floating harbor segments being designed and built to create invasion ports. Allied landing craft training in Devon, England. Allied aircraft strafing a German ship. Meteorological equipment assessing weather along the invasion coast. Wire netting to pave the beaches. Underwater pipelines to carry gasoline or petrol to France. Allied armored vehicles bearing the White Star. Troops being inoculated or vaccinated. Newly built ship going down the ways at an Allied ship yard that builds Navy warships. View of British intelligence officers with headsets at radio equipment, and personnel monitoring German radio broadcasts. Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran, where the Big Three are seen meeting at Tehran Conference to finalize invasion plans. Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill sitting on the porch of the Embassy building, in 1943. General Eisenhower and Allied Military leaders planning the D-Day invasion. General Omar Bradley, sitting with a British admiral. General Bernard Law Montgomery Aerial view of formation of U.S. Army Air Force B-17 aircraft, flying through Flak bursts. Pilots in B-17 cockpit .Bombs striking German targets. Polish, Scenes including gun camera footage of Czech, and British in Spitfire aircraft striking German railroads and marshaling yards. B-26 bombers and gunner attacking German Luftwaffe Me-109 aircraft.
Transworld Airways Lockheed Constellation passenger airplane arriving from New York City and Shannon,Ireland. It taxis to parking ramp at Orly Airport, Paris, France. Closeup of another airliner shutting down on the ramp. Passengers walk across the ramp and under the tail of an Air France plane, on their way to the terminal building. They are greeted by a band of men in red huntsmen uniforms playing hunting horns. A railroad train in a picturesque setting. Patrons relaxing on a cafe terrace, at an Italian train station, as an electrified train pulls in. An excursion boat draws near to Chillon Castle On Lake Geneva Switzerland. More views of the castle, from its footpath. Ancient Greek ruins near the Mediterranean Sea. Saint Mark’s Basilica on St. Mark’s Square in the city of Venice, Italy. Many visitors walking in the square, and a flock of pigeons taking flight. The Palace of Versailles, viewed from behind statues in the garden. Chartes Cathedral, Chartres, France. St Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy. Views of Copenhagen, Denmark, including the Little Mermaid statue. A man rowing a boat on a lake in the Alps Mountains. Snow-covered mountains. Trains running in the mountains. Border guards of Italy and Switzerland on their respective sides of their mutual border at a train station. A train transiting the border. A Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle) car and other vehicles being processed at a German border crossing.
A documentary depicts the effect of the Marshall Plan on the lives of people during the first year of its implementation in Europe. A ship at a dock. Men unload sulphur from the ship. A framers sprays sulpahte in a field. A boat underway. Norwegian fishermen aboard the boat are fishing. A fishing net in water. Fishes in the net. A fisherman empties a box containing fishes. People at work in fish canning industry. Women working in Norway put fish in tins. Women packing fishes in cans. The packed cans on display in a shop. A woman buys packed fish cans. The packed cans on a table of a shop in Britain. A man selling spaghetti at a store in Italy. Cattle at a dairy. Tractors in front of a house. A farmer man sits on a tractor. Animated map shows export of tractors from the U.S. to France. Animation depicts contribution of the people for the recovery program. A man ploughs a field with the help of a tractor. A power plant in France being built (appears to be the Roselend Dam hydroelectric complex in the French Alps at Savoie. View includes what may be the penstock gallery leading down to the La Bâthie power station. French Men at work building the power plant. Men construct highways with the help of modern machinery in Greece. Men at work. Construction of new houses for homeless people. Men at work. A man makes shoes. People at work in a shoe factory. Shoes at display in a shop. A man looks at the displayed shoes in a store. Increase in production in different sectors after the implementation of the Marshall Plan. Food kept on a table. Coal production increased to 11%. Coal being shoveled by hand. Textile production increased to 18%. Steel production increased to 40%. A railroad train moves on tracks. Man in Italy plays bocci ball with his unemployed friends. A British family eating food in their kitchen. A French family gathered for a meal. Woman taking a roasted meat from oven and putting it on table for large family in France to eat. Members of a union seated around a table. A coal miner works in a mine. A man plows a field.
Closeups of French troops at Hickam Air Force Base, Territory of Hawaii, on their way home to France, after leaving Indochina.They are hosted with refreshments by Red Cross volunteers. The soldiers wear berets, and officers wear caps. They all wear Hawaiian leis of flowers. They board a red cross bus inside a hangar at the base. One aboard the bus speaks through an open window to a woman standing outside.
American President Woodrow Wilson heads for France to negotiate peace between Germany and Allies. The President's flag flying at mast head of USS George Washington. Captain Edward McCauley Junior, Commander of USS George Washington and Rear Admiral H. S. Knapp converse with each other. Commander Pekins looks through binoculars. Commander Roesch, Chief engineer of USS George Washington smokes a cigar and laughs standing on the ship deck. Captain W. R. Pratt and Rear Admiral H. S. Knapp on the ship deck. The President and First Lady, Edith Galt Wilson, aboard the ship. The President looks through binoculars. A sunset in the Atlantic ocean. President Wilson converses with reporters on the ship's deck. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
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