The 14th Monaco Grand Prix race in Monte Carlo. Top Formula One car racing drivers of Europe drive their race cars at great speed on the streets of Monte Carlo. French, British and Italian F1 drivers compete in the race. Britain's Stirling Moss wins the race in his Maserati.
U.S. Navy and Marine life fire exercises at sea. Opening scene shows Destroyer USS Decatur (DD-936) accompanying Aircraft Carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43)at high speed. Navy and Marine pilots scramble to A4 Skyhawk aircraft readied on deck of the aircraft carrier, USS Ranger (CV-61). Green shirt operator seen at controls below ship's catapult, as an A4 is launched. F4 Skyray aircraft being launched simultaneously from different catapults. Destroyers firing 8-inch guns. Closeup on deck, of an 8-inch gun being fired. Battery of antiaircraft guns installed beside flight deck on an aircraft carrier. missiles being lauched from deck of a ship and from aircraft in flight. Marine aircraft dropping napalm. Flames and black smoke from the bombing.
U.S.Marine Corps live fire training in the United States. Film begins with camera viewing from below, from a trench, as a U.S. Marine M48 Patton tank comes forward straddling the trench and driving over and past the camera. Next, Marine riflemen are seen in trenches as a Marine F4U Corsair aircraft flies low over them. One marine throws a hand grenade. (Momentary glimpse of a Marine standing nearby on a steel observation platform, observing the training exercise.) The hand grenade explodes. Helicopters are seen flying low in the background. Meanwhile a Marine to the right is firing bursts from a machine gun. A Marine wearing a headset observes through binoculars. Gun crew firing a heavy howitzer from under a camouflage net. Marine M53 self-propelled 155mm guns being fired in the field. Flame Thrower Tank M67 throwing a stream of fire at a target. Jet fighters flying overhead at high speed dropping napalm. Flames erupting as the napalm strikes and ignites. Marines firing machine guns and rifles. Bombs striking.
United States Marines marching in field dress and battle helmets, with shouldered arms. Marine Commandant, General David M. Shoup, sits at his desk, talking with members of his staff. Closeup of General Shoup, and then of a Marine Brigadier General sitting next to him. Closeup of a Lieutenant General sitting across from General Shoup. The three converse as General Shoup touches a world globe at his side. Scene shifts to view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and then to two women sitting on a high hill overlooking the city of San Francisco. Another view (nighttime) of the Bridge and city. Private boats in a marina. Flight of two Marine Chance Vought Crusader F8 aircraft flying in formation. Aerial view of highway "clover leaf" network on the ground, busy with vehicle traffic.
Fairbanks Alaska as photographed by cameraman with the U.S. Army 1934 Alaska Flight. Views of private float planes parked in the water along the banks of the Tanana river, in Fairbanks, Alaska. A small covered barge loaded with 55 gallon drums has "Damfino" written on its bow. It is being pushed by a tugboat. Glimpse of a bridge over the river. Scene shifts to commercial signs in downtown Fairbanks. One reads: "Palace Bath House Open Day and Night." Signs identify the Model Cafe, Cann Studio, and John F. Lonz Furnishings. Cars are parked along the street. A drug store is seen further along the street at the approach to a steel bridge. Closeup of sign on side of a truck,reading: "Natural Milk, Bentleys Dairy." Man riding in a horse-drawn wagon, labeled "Fairbanks Garden."
United States President Harry S. Truman, and his party, make unplanned stop at RAF Station Harrowbeer during return from the last 4-Power meeting of World War 2, held at Berlin in July, 1945. (Their planned destination, RAF Station St Mawgan, was fogged in. So the President instructed his pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Henry T. Myers, to land at Harrowbeer, when they saw it was clear.) Truman descends steps from the Presidential Airplane (Douglas VC-54C named the "Sacred Cow," used by Presidents Roosevelt, and Truman). Two other C-54 aircraft have also arrived (unseen). One carried Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes, who poses with the President and three members of the British WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) identified as: Section Officer Eira Buckland Jones, Corporal Clarice Turner, and Leading Aircraft Woman Audley Bartlett. Views from inside car taking members of Presidential party to Plymouth Harbor. Groups of local people wave as the car passes through the English countryside. Larger numbers of spectators line the streets of the city of Plymouth. View of Plymouth Harbor from launch taking members of President's party out to the USS Augusta, anchored in Plymouth Sound (not seen).