Subject is the 1926 Ford "National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy," which started at Ford Field, Dearborn, Michigan, on August 7, 1926. Film opens showing a parked biplane with tandem open cockpits. It has an unusual exhaust gathering container atop its engine and an exhaust pipe extending straight down below the fuselage. Camera shows the same aircraft from the rear, with hangar and terminal building in background. Another parked biplane displays the number "19." It is equipped with small interconnected wing flaps on its upper and lower wings. Next is seen a Woodson Model 2-A Biplane with number 14 on its fuselage and another biplane marked Number 11. Closeup of Henry Ford leaning out of a car, talking with a cinematographer, holding a camera, and reporters. A large group of persons involved in the events pose for a photograph. The camera pans across them as they pose in front of a hangar. Scene shifts to spectators crowding around a Ford-Stout 2-AT aircraft as it begins its takeoff roll. Camera follows the airplane as it continues and becomes airborne.
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.
Byrd arctic expedition to fly an airplane over the North Pole, in 1926. Animated map illustrates the planned Northward course of Lieutenant Commander Richard Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett, headed to the North Pole, in their Fokker tri-motor airplane. The starting point is Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway, where they took off on May 9, 1926. A slate states that, "Byrd circles the Pole, checking observations and photographing." Scene shifts to images being recorded by Byrd from inside their Fokker F-VII Tri-motor airplane, the "Josephine Ford." One shows the big "F" in the name "Fokker" on underside of the right wing. From there, the camera pans back over the frozen wasteland below, with parts of the aircraft also seen. Another shot shows the aircraft tail (empennage) with mountains in background amidst snow-filled valleys while the airplane is in a gentle right-hand turn. Underside of engine is seen with arctic scenery, passing below.
A documentary titled 'Building for Service' in the United States. In 1878 there were fewer telephones in the United States as compared to later years. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, in his forecast to the Electric Telephone Company writes that telephone cables could be laid underground or suspended overhead connecting with wires to buildings of any kind. A man could speak to another man at a distant place by this means. A graph showing the growth of the Bell System in the number of telephones, from 2 million in 1876 to 16 million in 1926. Thousands of people have worked in streets and on mountains in laying telephone facility, to bring the inventor's forecast to reality. A graph showing physical property of the Bell System from year 1911 through 1925.
While United States Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd's North Pole expedition prepares for its flight to the pole and back, the Dirigible, "Norge," positioning for the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight, is seen in flight over Kings Bay Spitsbergen. She passes over the Byrd Polar Expedition camp and proceeds to land and be moved into her protective hangar at her own expedition camp, nearby.
The 1926 Byrd expedition to fly over the North Pole. The expedition's ski-equipped Curtiss Oriole (Curtiss Model 17) airplane is seen parked in front of their Fokker F-VII Tri-motor airplane, the "Josephine Ford," on the snow at Spitsbergen, Norway. Engines start on both aircraft. The Oriole takes off with its photographer waving to the camera as they depart. They gather speed on a downhill slope and break ground to proceed over open water in Kings bay. Next, the Fokker (piloted by Floyd Bennett and navigated by LCDR Richard Byrd) is seen high above on its flight towards the North Pole. Views of dramatic Ice formations as seen from a boat in waters nearby. Aerial views of arctic terrain.