Japanese diplomats in the United States. Car and bus traffic of 1950s cars on street in Washington Dc with the United States Capitol building in the background. Elected Japanese representatives climb up stairs of the U.S. assembly. The U.S. Vice President Allen W Barkley and Secretary David Rice Atchison receives Japanese representatives and shake hands with them. They pose. Building of the United Nations (The temporary United Nations Headquarters building in Lake Success, Long Island, New York, in the Sperry Gyroscope Corp building.) Japanese representatives go in the building. Warren Austin, a U.S. delegate stands and shakes hands with the representatives. They sit in hall, wear headphones and listen to the translated discussions. Scene changes to Paris, with car traffic on street and Arc de Triomphe in background. Building of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization). Japanese representatives get in the building. Meeting in session. Representatives of Japan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Japanese representative addresses and shakes hands with the UNESCO president and other members.
Italian Expeditionary Forces at Northern Africa Front. Soldiers of Italian Expedition Force comes out of fox holes. They run out from dugouts. Machine gun emplacement at battle field. Soldiers fire guns. They look through binocular. Trucks and bikes in field. Soldiers run in trenches. Soldiers run in field with machine guns and fire in prone position. Airborne troops land on isolated emergency airfield built by Britishers on the desert. Paratroopers destroy gasoline and munition dumps in field. Soldiers stand with covered artillery. Troops get in aircraft with guns. Italian Expeditionary Forces in Malta: Air raid over Malta. Pilots get on planes. Plane taxis and takes off. Airplane in flight. Pilots in cockpit. Air plane in flight over sea. Aerial view of Malta Island. (World War II period).
German bomber Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombs an Allied ship off island of Valletta, Malta. Ground crew ready the FW 200 German bomber. The pilot climbs up stairs to cockpit. Airmen fuel the bomber. Engines of bomber start. It taxis and takes off. German FW-200 Bomber in flight. View from inside cockpit of pilots in cockpit. Clouds visible from pilot cabin's screen. Pilot drinks hot beverage from insulated flask. Bomber in flight over sea. Pilot looks through binoculars. FW-200 Bomber releases bombs on an Allied ship. Smoke rises from burning ship. (World War II period).
Film notes 35th anniversary of Wright Brothers' first flight and reviews history of transportation and advances in transportation brought about by railroad and aircraft. An animated map of the United states before the advent of mechanized transport methods. It illustrates the difficult and long overland journey to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast. Travel by horse and wagon over the Santa Fe Trail in 1849 is recreated in a brief film clip. Next, a locomotive is shown pulling a passenger train at high speed along a railroad at the base of a mountain. Animated map charts fairly direct path from Coast to Coast, taking only 4 days by railroad. Next a nearly straight course is traced across the map illustrating the path of an airplane taking only seven and a half hours for the journey. Change of scene shows aerial view of Howard Hughes' Lockheed 14 Super Electra Special, Model 14-N2 ( NX18973), christened "New York World's Fair 1939," in flight over New York harbor with the skyline of Manhattan, New York City in the background. Camera follows the plane as it passes over lower Manhattan. The Empire State building is seen prominently with other skyscrapers below the aircraft. This was filmed, on July 14, 1938, as Hughes and his crew were returning from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Floyd Bennett Field, on Long Island, at the conclusion of their around-the-world flight (circling the Northern Hemisphere) from July 10 - July 14, 1938.
Animated map shows sailing vessel leaving Coast of United States heading to the British Isles. Next, the Cunard-White Star ocean liner, S.S. Aquitania, is shown underway in the Atlantic, with note that the ship crossing only takes four days. Animated map shows America and Europe "moving closer together" as a result. Noting that an airplane flew from New York to Paris in 16 hours and 38 minutes, Howard Hughes' Lockheed 14 Super Electra Special aircraft, heavily loaded with fuel, is seen making a difficult takeoff from the short (3500 foot) runway at Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, on July 10th, 1938, headed to Paris, France on first leg of its round-the-world flight. Glimpse of the aircraft overhead as it sets course for Newfoundland on a Great Circle route to Paris.
Fliers in the Dole Derby air race take off for Hawaii. The "City of Oakland," a Travel Air 5000 aircraft is seen being readied for flight. Pilot Ernie Smith and navigator Emory Bronte pose at the front of the aircraft, inspecting the engine and propeller. Closeup of the two. Next, a mechanic hand-cranks the engine to start it. Pilot, Smith climbs into the cockpit and closes its door. On July 14th, the aircraft is seen on takeoff roll toward and past the camera, which continues to track it through the takeoff. (The aircraft ran out of fuel and crash landed on the island of Molokai, in Hawaii on July 15th. Smith and Bronte were flown by Army aircraft to Wheeler field, the same day, where they were feted as the first civilians to fly across the Pacific.)
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