Wendell Wilkie waves from the top of the boarding ramp by his Douglas DC-3-178 - American Airlines Flagship-Virginia, acknowledging people greeting him at the new Vultee aircraft plant in Nashville, Tennessee. An African American man in uniform stands by as Wilkie descends the ramp. Scene shifts to a sizeable crowd waving from behind a fence on the airfield. An aerial view shows the factory and its airfield. Closer view of factory building itself. Next, a huge crowd is seen behind a fence, where a Vultee P-66 is displayed on a stand above the fence. It bears a British Royal Air Force roundel on its fuselage. U.S. Air Army Air Forces Officers and some Boy Scouts pose in front ot the aircraft. Wendel Wilkie is seen next, at a speaker's stand arrayed with microphones. It is decorated and displays the Vultee company Logo. Special guests in front of the stand, are seated on folding chairs. Closeup of Wilkie. Company officials are seen on a platform next to a Vultee P-66. Closeup of two young girls on the platform. One wields a bottle of Champaign to Christen the plane. Spectators applaud. A P-66 takes off from the airfield and climbs away.
U.S. Army Air Cadets arriving at Randolph Field in Texas, after primary training. New cadets in hooded Link trainers are taught by way of blind flying. Cadets learning difficult air maneuvers. Aircraft BT-14s in flight and taxiing. BT-14s in flight. (World War 2 era.)
Army test pilot Robert W. Fausel on airfield smiles for camera in cockpit of P-40D aircraft at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio. P-40D taking off and breaking speed record with a 661 mile per hour vertical power dive. P-40 in flight. Plane lands and pilot Bob Fausel smiles again for the camera standing near the aircraft. (Opening slate states Buffalo New York, but this event actually occurred at Wright Field in Ohio).
Views of United States Army cadets graduating with wings and receiving diplomas at Maxwell Field. New pilot officers of the U.S. Army Air Force are seen near aircraft on airfield, together with women guests at the ceremony. Group of AT-6A training aircraft parked at airfield.
Views of diesel powered bulldozer leveling off sandy field and pierced steel planking (PSP) laid down by U.S. Army workers to quickly build landing strip at Marston Strip, North Carolina, supporting Camp Hoffman airfield (later renamed Camp Mackall in 1943). A C-47D aircraft landing on the new landing strip. This was the first use of the perforated steel planking, nicknamed "Marston Mats" (or sometimes misspelled "Marsden Mats"), which were widely employed by the U.S. Army in World War 2.
SS President Coolidge and SS President Adams tied up at pier in San Pedro. Stern and bow of ships are shown. Emblem of new American President Lines shown. A cargo ship at pier in background at Long Beach harbor. Men on truck unloading scrap iron onto pile. Pile of scrapped iron on the pier.
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