The longest over water flight to date, accomplished by the U.S. Army Air Service in 1927. Chief of Army Air Service, Major General Patrick, standing between Pilot, Lt. Lester J. Maitland, and Navigator, Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger in front of their Fokker C-2-3 trimotor airplane, named the Bird of Paradise. General Patrick is wishing them farewell as they are about to depart on their transoceanic flight from Oakland California to Honolulu, Hawaii. Animation of aircraft leaving Oakland Airport. Fokker C-2-3 in flight. Animation of the longest over water flight ever attempted, 2400 miles, Oakland to Honolulu.
This material, although spectacular does not show actual combat. It is reconstructed, as part of the 1927 movie "Wings" Flight of four aircraft in flight over clouds are attacked by enemy airplane unseen until right after it fires on and hits one of the four. The stricken aircraft emits smoke while flying through the clouds and then spirals down burning. At TC:00:54 film runs in reverse and burning aircraft goes backwards through TC: 01:01. A similar event is seen in TC:01:04 through TC:01:06. Closeup of Spad biplane with machine guns mounted and pilot wearing goggles visible clearly in cockpit. It is headed directly at the camera and firing all the time. Airplane trailing smoke after being hit by gunfire from another one behind it. View from rear seat of two-seater airplane, as pilot fires at burning airplane ahead of him. Pursuing aircraft continues to fire on burning craft as it spirals down through the clouds. German airplane struck by gunfire burns as it falls. German airplane burning in level flight and then begins to spiral down through clouds. Two aircraft in dogfight. One is hit and burns, falling in a tight spiral. Backseat view from airplane shooting at burning airplane in front of it.
Scene from 1927 feature film about World War 1. British tank crosses a battlefield under fire. It is a Mk V tank with dummy guns fitted to simulate a fighting tank. British troops sheltering in a shell-hole recognize it as friendly and follow it towards enemy lines, where it rides over the parapet of a German trench and crushes a machine-gun position. (The tank is an anachronism; the Mark V did not enter service until 1918.)
Reenactment of scenes from 1916 in World War 1, filmed in 1927 in Southwest England. Two British Mk V Tanks advance through shellfire. One has its gun mountings plated over and has dummy guns; the other has its gun mounts intact, though the guns might be dummies, and carries anti-grenade mesh on its roof. (These are by historical errors by the film makers, since this type of anti-grenade protection was not carried on Mark V [Mark 5] tanks, and the Mark V did not enter service until 1918.) The tank advances towards enemy trenches, followed by British soldiers who pursue German soldiers fleeing along the network of trenches. The tank, filmed from below, in the trench, as it moves over the trench. Note: (The film "The Somme" can be seen in full on the British Film Institute website.)
Brief scenes from the U.S. Army Air Service Pan American good will flight that covered 22,000 miles on a goodwill mission to 21 Central and South American nations, during 1926-1927. A view of the hangar area and flight line of Kelly Air Field in Texas, as one of the five Loening OA-1 Amphibious aircraft, on the mission, takes off from the runway on Dec. 21, 1926. Five of the aircraft in formation over a large city. U.S.President Calvin Coolidge presents the aircrews with citations for the Distinguished Flying Cross, at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., on May 2, 1927.
Conditions in China in 1927-28. A large crowd of people is assembled outdoors, in Shanghai, China. Several display Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) flags. Next, the people are seen scrambling for pamphlets that are being thrown into their midst. Camera pans across the crowd, revealing that they are assembled near a waterfront pier on the Huangpu River, where a number of ships are docked. Closeup of the pier shows men carrying cargo and packages through the crowd. Scene shifts to two men apparently distributing literature from a truck, and a crowd (mob) of people pushing into an official-looking building. Next, a contingent of armed Chinese sailors marches through the throng. They pass by the people crammed into the doorway of the official-looking building, paying no attention to them. More armed Chinese military march through the area. Views of people jammed into the streets. A line of armed British soldiers is seen trying to control a crowd (probably near the International Settlement). They push the demonstrators back. Scene shifts to a group of Chinese men seated on the ground, eating bread. someone gives one of them a small tin box that he attempts to pry open.