World Airways Today and Tomorrow shows various civilian and military aircraft being used for various purposes. Birds in flight over a water body. An autogyro in flight. A low wing monoplane performs a roll. A military Boeing 314 clipper aircraft in flight. A TWA (Trans World Airlines) DC-2 aircraft on takeoff with one gear up and the other landing gear of the passenger aircraft still extended. "The Lindbergh Line" painted on its fuselage. A B-29 aircraft in flight. Formation of B-26 bombers in flight above clouds. A B-29 dropping bombs. Bombs away view from bomber aircraft as bombs are released from open bomb bay doors. Explosions on ground targets in World War II as U.S. Army Air Force B-26s drop bombs. A United Airlines DC-2 passenger airplane in flight over a city. China Clipper seaplane taking off. Aerial view of China Clipper aircraft (Martin M-130 four-engine flying boat built for Pan American Airways) in flight over the partially completed Golden Gate Bridge, while still under construction, in San Francisco, California, circa mid 1930s. Lockheed Constellation passenger plane climbing over mountains. Baggage handlers loading cargo and baggage into United Airlines DC-3. (World War II period).
Lockheed U-2D aircraft, number 56-6695, of the U.S. Air Force 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, taxis to runway at McCoy Air Force Base, Orlando, Florida, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Airmen remove Pogo wheels from wing tips of U2. Aircraft takes off and climbs rapidly in nose high attitude. The U-2 in flight. (Note: U-2D, number 56-6695 Crashed on 7 July 1964 near Fujian, China while monitoring supply routes from China to North Vietnam.)
The United Nations Conference opens in San Francisco, California near the end of World War 2. Flags of the participating nations. U.S. President Truman speaks to the UN delegates from Washington DC. Cars outside the venue of the conference. Personage at the conference include South Arabian delegates, North African Prime Minister and Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, China's Foreign Minister TV Soong, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, U.S. Secretary of State Stettinius, Andrei Gromyko, Jan Masaryk, Lord Halifax, Molotov and delegates from India, Mexico, Lebanon, Greece, Chezoslovakia, Egypt and Netherlands. Photographers take pictures. Typists work at typewriters in Associated Press Headquarters room. Telephone operators at switchboards. China's Foreign Minister TV Soong, Soviet Russian Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden each address the conference.
Sister Helena, a Chinese nun of the Roman Catholic Order of St Anne from Hankow, China (Shashi, Hubei, China) expresses her relief at the World War II coming to an end in Manila, Philippines. Standing beside her is interpreter Sister Ursula Mary. She speaks about her gratitude to the American forces and their experience living under a concentration camp in Manila in her mother tongue.
United States Presidential election campaign in the United States. The Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan, accepts the Presidential nomination in his speech. His supporters cheer holding banners. Childhood pictures of Ronald Reagan with his family. He played football for the Eureka Team. He was also part of a baseball team and went to a training camp. (This clip shows the Chicago Cubs, but he did not play for them). Ronald Reagan became a Hollywood actor. He also joined the army for a few years. He sits on the 'Theater Ronald Reagan' chair. He was a strong supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (This shows FDR, but Reagan later left the Democrats and became a Republican.) Ronald Reagan is elected California governor. Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan stands with George Herbert Walker Bush, the Republican candidate for the Vice President. President Reagan at his inauguration at the United States Capitol in Washington DC. President Reagan is shot and is rushed to a hospital. The President resumes work after his recovery. He concentrates on the economic growth of the United States. Construction workers on both commercial and residential buildings. Scenes from the Williamsburg economic summit with world leaders including Margaret Thatcher. He also is seen speaking in Bonn Germany. President Reagan attends an outdoor church service with American troops. President Reagan visits a cemetery with wife Nancy Davis. (This is the American cemetery at Normandy on the 40th anniversary of the Invasion of Europe). The President and the First Lady visit Japan, China and South Korea. We see them walking on the Great Wall of China. He speaks at the Republican Convention in Dallas in August of 1984.
After five years of captivity of Red Revolutionary Forces (Viet-Minh) hostages return to their homelands from Indo-China during the Indo-China War. French hostages held by Viet-Minh leave Indochina with their belongings. They board a truck. Trucks loaded with the hostages line up on a road. The Red Cross sign at the entrance of a building. People move with their families. French women at a counter of new clothes after imprisonment. Children eat sweets. Two boys eat bread with tea. French hostages including men, women and children.