World War 2 Newsreel footage of British air raids on German occupied France, titled "Day and Night R.A.F. makes Nazis take it !" Six Douglas DB-7/A-20 Havoc attack bomber aircraft (American made, but ordered by Britain) take off from England and are seen flying in formation over the English Channel. A-20 Havocs approach beach. A-20 Havocs over French countryside. Point of view footage looking out from cockpit of airplanes flying low over French countryside and approaching German held industrial and chemical plants in Lille making German munitions. View of bombardier pulling bomb release trigger, followed by bombs away view. Damage done by bombing seen. Port and buildings being bombed by A-20 bombers at St. Malo. Explosions seen in dock areas from the air. Back in England, RAF pilots suit-up in cold weather gear for night bombing flights over Germany. View of a line of carrier pigeons each in a box, to be carried in each plane and released if the pilot gets in trouble. A pilot carrying a pigeon in a box. Bomber crews consult together at their planes before boarding. U.S. airmen being trained join together with RAF flyers and board Avro Lancaster bombers for the night raids. Lancaster bombers taxi and takeoff. Halifax III taxiing and taking off. Hawker Hurricane or Spitfire fighters seen in flight ready to engage Nazi fighters. Views of actual bombing raid on a German city by Lancaster bombers. Incoming flak and anti-aircraft fire. Explosions on ground over targets in Germany. [Note: Interestingly, the film uses shots of a German Junkers 88 bomber, instead of a Lancaster, to illustrate the nose of the aircraft at night.]
SPAD fighter planes of French Air unit fly over German lines at Chaux in France during World War I. A plane flying low near the ground. Formation of Spad biplanes in flight. Several men seen standing as a man in the basket of an observation balloon rises up. A French pilot getting into the cockpit of a SPAD fighter plane. Change to a different pilot seated in the cockpit posing for the camera.
28th Escadrille fliers of French Air Service examine a Salmson 2 biplane during World War I. Clothes seen hanging on a wire in the background. The aircraft has a painted picture of a running elephant on it. Captain Paul Daum of the 28th Escadrille inspects the rear, twin, ring-mounted Lewis Guns, moves them around, and adjusts them. The fliers including Captain Paul Daum stand in front of the plane.
Two fliers -- Pilot Lieutenant Kelly and observer Lt. Jay Paul Harman -- approach a Spad XI with U.S. Army Air Service logo on it during World War I. They consult over some notes and then board the aircraft, takeoff, and fly on an observation mission. Spad XI flying overhead. The original Spad XI seen landing and taxiing. A Frenchman of the 28th Escadrille runs up to meet the plane and is handed something (a negative?) by the rear gunner/observer, Lt. Jay Paul Harman. Next scene shows U.S. and French military personnel gathered reviewing photo images brought to them by a runner. The officers include American officers Lieutenant J. P. Harmon, Lt. John S. Beekley and Lt. R. T. Maddock and Frenchman Captain DeSaint Cerau.
F4U Corsair landing mishap during shakedown cruise of Navy Fighter Squadron VF-17, aboard the carrier, USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) during World War 2. The event is shown in seen in slow motion. A Douglas SBD Dauntless makes a normal landing. Next, a Corsair, marked 17-F-10, engages a restraining cable but noses over to completely vertical position, and then falls off toward left wing, before settling back. Smoke engulfs the airplane, but quickly clears. Sailors quickly respond, surrounding the aircraft.
Mishaps during the shakedown cruise of the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) in World War 2. A U.S. Navy F4U Corsair of VF-17, noses over but settles upright, while landing on the carrier. View from port stern of the Bunker Hill as she passes an SB2C Helldiver dive bomber from VB-17, in the water. The pilot and gunner climb over the sinking airplane to board their emergency life raft, already inflated next to the airplane. As the crew of the Bunker Hill watches, the air crewmen board their life raft, as the dive bomber sinks.
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