Montage of scenes from air war in Europe, covering period from about 1943 through 1945 during World War Two. U.S. P-47 and P-38 fighter aircraft being unloaded from a ship at a port in Europe during the Second World War. A line of P-47s on an airfield. German aircraft taking off and inflight, including: Me-109; He-111 bombers; Me-110 fighters; and Fw-190 fighters. U.S. P-51s firing at and destroying German aircraft. Multiple aerial dogfight scenes with gun camera footage showing dramatic mid air explosions of various enemy German aircraft. U.S. B-17s flying to Berlin and back again, with P-51 fighter escorts. P-38 aircraft flying in formation and returning from escort duty, seeking targets of opportunity, strafe German airfields, and fire on German aerodromes and parked aircraft, destroying many airplanes.
American aircraft in flight strafing factory area and town through clouds and attacking railroad marshalling yards, in 1945, near end of World War II in Europe.
A number of Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft of 323rd Bombardment Group (9th Air Force) are lined up for takeoff. As they taxi past camera, tail number of one: 43-34344, is visible. All aircraft display the distinctive White Tail identifying the 323rd BG. (The Group is known to some as Wood's Rocket Raiders, so-named for their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson r. Wood.) The location is Denain Airfield (A-83), near the City of Valenciennes, France. The time is April, 7,1945, a month before VE Day. Several airmen are pitching horseshoes, while others watch. They use a shoe to measure how close one came to the pin. Two airment use a two-man saw to saw a timber while a third sits on it to hold it still.
Film begins with nighttime bombardments of rockets and artillery. Then at one minute after midnight, on May 9th, 1945, the guns stop. Next, a day earlier, German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel enters a conference room on May 8th, accompanied by German staff officers. He salutes with his Marshal's baton and takes a seat. He signs surrender document. Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov stands before being seated. British Air Marshal, Sir Arthur Tedder, is seen signing the document along with Marshal Zhukov. General Carl Spaatz, Commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe, shakes hands with Marshal Zhukov. Several scenes of battlefield cemeteries are seen next. German officer prisoners are seen from the back as they walk with hands behind their heads. Views of Surrendered German senior military officers, including: German Admiral Erich Raeder; German Marshal Walter Model; German Marshal Wilhelm Keitel; and Marshal Hermann Goering (being disarmed).
Gun camera footage from USAAF P-47 of the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, operating from Verdun Airfield, France, during World War 2. The aircraft flown by pilot named Bullock, on March 31, 1945, strafes lines of communication, striking vehicles on roads and trains moving on rail lines. In second sequence, the same pilot, now identified on slate, with the 377th Fighter Squadron, on April 4th, attacks a lone German Me-109 seen flying in thin cloud below him.
British Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor twin jet aircraft taking off and landing at an airfield in Britain, in June, 1945, right after the end of World War II in Europe. Several American soldiers sit on grass beside the runway and watch. One takes pictures. The clip shows a Meteor, so wrong clip!
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