Crowd gathered to watch air show celebrating 20th anniversary of Langley Field, Virginia. Seven Y1B-17s from the 2nd Bombardment Group, at Langley Field, fly very low in an echelon-right formation. The crowd gazes at the sky. Several Consolidated PB-2As, from the 8th Pursuit Group, in flight. R3-2As dive and fly by in front of the crowd. A lone Y1B-17 flies low over the ground. One of several low-flying PB-2As, 35–50, of Headquarters Squadron, 8th Pursuit Group, suddenly dives into the ground and crashes, bursting into flames. People watch the burning wreckage. A crash truck responds and is seen besides the wreckage. Spectators rush towards the crashed plane. (Army Air Corps Major Alfred J. Waller was killed in the crash and Observer, Sergeant John Johnston was injured.)
A flight of U.S. Army Air Corps P-47s peels off and executes 360-overhead landings at Asch Airfield (Y-29), Belgium, during World War 2. They include aircraft from several American units, all part of the U.S. 9th Air Force. They include: tail number 44-20227 of the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group and tail number 42-26860 of the 512th Fighter Squadron, 406th Fighter Group.
Aerospace Force Communication Electronics. United States Air Force officers at consoles in Strategic Air Command Control Center in United States. An officer works on consoles and speaks into phone. He makes a phone call and looks into a file as he speaks over the phone.
Major catastophe events of the year 1952. Views of destruction on the ground in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after American Airlines flight 6780, a Convair 240, crashed into a house at Williamson and South Streets on January 22, 1952. Burned wreckage and devastation seen at the crash site in Elizabeth following the crash and subsequent explosions damaging or destroying multipole houses in the 600 block of Williamson Street. In the first few seconds of the clip, the Battin High School for Girls is seen in the background. The school was adjacent to the crash but not hit. Narrator also describes the crash of an Army transport plane in California which killed 86 soldiers, but no images of that crash are shown. Next scenes shift to England, on September 6, 1952, as a de Havilland DH.110 jet aircraft, piloted by John Derry, explodes in midair after achieving Mach 1 and then beginning a left bank and climb at 450 knots during the 1952 Farnborough Airshow. Spectators at the British air show are seen on the ground in the area below the explosion and where debris rained down on the crowd causing deaths and injuries. Engines from the blown-up DH.110 plane (prototype, ID WG236) are seen hurtling through the sky toward Observation Hill immediately after the mid-air explosion. Scenes show crowd working to tend to the wounded and shocked families and children crying.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Naval forces, under SACLANT, on the high seas during Operation Strkeback exercises. Inflight refueling of U.S. Navy aircraft. Planes fly in formation. An F4D aircraft fires an air-to-air missile from under its wing. Views of missiles striking and destroying airborne targets. U.S. guided missile cruiser underway with missiles pointed up vertically. A missile is launched, as a helicopter flies low behind the ship. A missile is seen striking left wing of a large 4-engine aircraft, setting it on fire. (Two objects, with small parachutes, appear to eject from the aircraft.) A destroyer underway in heavy seas. Brief glimpse of flight deck on aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34),while underway in heavy seas.
A drill to evacuate babies at a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during World War II. An air raid alarm being sounded as nurses carry babies out from a room at St. Vincent hospital for evacuation. Babies being handed over from one person to another, with nurses, nuns, and soldiers all participating in a line. Babies with tags attached to them being placed in a bus. Babies and nurses in a moving bus on the way to a safe facility. Babies at an underground air raid shelter play room. Nurses and nuns look after the children as they play.
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