A review of research and development in guided missiles by the United States Air Force from 1919 to 1948. Interior of a steel mill shows workers performing various duties around an open furnace. The exhaust section of a JB-2, flames erupting from the same. A JB-2 launching. It taxis in a wooded area. A large explosion. The exhaust section of V-2 during launching. Failed test as a V-2 rocket streaks down towards the earth after a launch and slams into a wooded area, with a huge explosion resulting. The first guided missile robot torpedo aircraft crashes at Arcadia, Florida. First successful launching of the U.S. aerial guided missile. Exhaust section of JB-2 starting operation attached to a wing of a B-17. The B-17 launching. JB-2 in flight. PQ-8 target aircraft dives towards the slope of a mountain and explodes. An atomic bomb explosion. Atomic cloud formation rises up in the air from the Trinity test, the first atomic explosion, in New Mexico.
Dr. Josef Tiso in jail in Slovakia. Kraiska Sud jail of Bratislava. A warden opens a door of a cell. Dr. Jozef Tiso, a Monsignor of the Catholic Church and ex-Prime Minister of Slovakia during World War 2, is in the cell. The name 'Josef Tiso' written on the door of the cell. He sits at a little desk in his cell and reads and writes his memories. He then takes a book. He leaves his cell with the warden and walk in the courtyard of the jail. The warden watches him.
The opening of a nonstop Prague-New York flight in Prague, Czechoslovakia. A Pan American World Airways (PAA) plane lands at Prague airport (Prague Ruzyně International Airport, Aviatická, 161 00 Praha 6, Czechia). U.S. flag and name 'Praha' in foreground. The plane taxis. The passengers disembark. A crowd applauds for them. Labels on the parcels carried by the plane. The crew disembarks from the plane. United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) delegates shake hands with them. Farmers' employees loosen the ropes of a cargo of hatching eggs. The freight is unloaded from the plane. A truck carries boxes of eggs. German prisoners pass by the plane. The hatching eggs are placed into artificial hatches in a hatchery near Prague. Men and women carry the UNRRA' boxes full of eggs. Young chicks in the coops.
Buildings of the Chicago University, Chicago. Metallurgical Laboratory in the university campus. Eckhart Hall in the foreground. Ryerson Hall Physical Laboratory in the background. A man comes out from the entrance to Ekhart Hall. Lettering 'Eckhart Hall' above the entrance.
Men walking towards the West Stands of Stagg Field, where the Institute for the Study of Metals, occupies the southern half of the abandoned stands. To the North, where the center of the building protrudes toward Ellis Avenue, is the squash court area in which the famous Chicago Pile number 1 was built, and achieved controlled, sustained nuclear fission, on December 2, 1942. Scene shifts to different area where a sign reads: "5655, Institute for the Study of Metals, Delivery Entrance." Scene shifts again, to Dr. Enrico Fermi and two assistants in front of a facsimile of the Chicago Pile 1. One assistant holds a simulated "control rod" that he "withdraws" from from the pile, while Dr. Fermi glances at a geiger counter and makes notes in a book. This is repeated for several takes, including one taken much closer. Dr.Fermi and his assistant smile as they take these actions. The second assistant, sits at a desk, where a slide rule is visible, and makes notes in a book. A large geiger counter is seen with lights flashing. Above the lights the counter is labeled "Interpolation," and the numbers: 1,2,4,16, and 32 appear above the lights, respectively. Dr. Fermi is then seen in another part of the lab, where he is making adjustments on some unseen device and annotating a book. Piping of various sizes is seen in background. He repeats these actions a number of times for the camera.
New York banker Alexander Sachs visits the White House in Washington DC. A Cadillaccar pulls up at the White House. Mr. Alexander Sachs leaves the car and enters the White house. Mr. Sachs enters the reception room of the White House, where Chief White House Usher, .Howell G. Crim greets him. (Note: these actions are repeated a number of times in this sequence, from different camera angles and perspectives.)