National championship speedboat races in San Diego, California. Aerial exhibitions by U.S. Navy fighting squadrons during the event. U.S. Navy ( USN ) Douglas DT-2 aircraft in flight. USS Langley on a side. A single engine seaplane in flight. It lands in a harbor. A USN NB-1 aircraft taxis in the harbor. People in barges watch the race. A convoy of speedboats whiz past the boats in the harbor. Yachts in the harbor.
U.S. President John Calvin Coolidge Jr. aboard yacht Mayflower underway in the Virginia Capes. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Curtis Dwight Wilbur along with the President aboard the yacht. A line of old battleships underway. President Coolidge looks through binoculars. The President and the Secretary of Navy review the fleet. An aircraft in flight overhead.
Aviator Charles Lindbergh returns to the United States after a flight to Paris, France. USS Memphis underway at sea with smoke above it. Colonel Lindbergh addresses a crowd. An old type biplane aircraft in flight overhead and a ship underway at sea. USS Memphis on the Potomac River. Aerial view of Washington DC. A U.S. flag flutters on a flag pole. Dignitaries wave from a dock. Lindbergh's mother goes up a gangway to meet him. Lindbergh is accompanied by naval officers. His mother comes down the gangway in the background. Lindbergh rides an old Pierce Arrow open touring car during a parade. People wave in the foreground. Buildings along street sides. People gather in a large number near the Washington Monument. U.S. President John Calvin Coolidge Jr. awards Lindbergh with the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Development of air power. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Al J. Williams in the United States. He holds the official world speed record at 266.6 miles an hour. A United States Navy Curtiss R2C-1 racer parked on an airfield. Lt. Williams in the cockpit of the aircraft. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral W. A. Moffett shakes hands with Lt. Williams. Cameramen and officials in the background. The Curtiss R2C-1 racer flies past and overhead around a pylon. The aircraft comes in for a landing.
U.S. Navy Fleet Review on Christmas Day, 1918, in New York City harbor. View from stern of a ship flying large American flag. Behind it are several other vessels, including a small ship flying the American flag. The wind is strong causing the flags to stand out sharply. Barrage balloons are seen in the sky overhead. The battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) passes nearby, with the ship's company lining her deck in formation around her railings. Sailors loading a deck gun to fire salutes from the camera ship, as a ferry boat passes in the background. A transport ship in camouflage is in far background. Army and Navy officers aboard the camera ship salute colors on passing ship (unseen). A Florida class battleship passing nearby with her company assembled on deck. A New York class battleship passing in review. Sailor firing deck gun in salute from camera ship. Another New York Class battleship passing in review. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, and Secretary of War, Newton Baker, both in top hats, standing on deck of camera ship. The Statue of Liberty on Bedloes Island, in New York Harbor. The USS Texas (BB-35) passing in review, with a Camel Sopwith airplane on a launch platform installed atop her gun turret number 2. More battleships making way in trail formation. Aerial view from low altitude of the USS Arizona (BB-39).
Scenes from British feature film "The Somme" made in 1927, about the Battle of the Somme in World War 1. Part of it depicts events involving the South African Brigade in the battle. The extract opens with shells bursting all along No Man's Land among fragments of trees. Explosions and smoke everywhere. On July 18, 1916, Nine German Battalions deploy to drive the South African Brigade from the Delville Wood. Several soldiers of the Brigade seen entrenched in a sand-bagged position as a German shell explodes only yards from them. German soldiers advance through the broken trees and brush, while under fire by British gunners using Vickers machine guns. Some German soldiers falling and others seeking cover in abandoned trench. A line of South African troops firing their rifles from a trench, as several German soldiers reach them and are shot dead just feet away. A British soldier is shot while climbing out of a trench containing several fallen comrades. Other British (or South African) troops scrambling to find a safer place. One crawling across the ground. A British gunner firing a Lewis gun. German troops starting to go over-the-top, from their trench. British soldiers advancing. German gunner firing Maxim gun from fortified position, as shells burst in the distant background. A horizontal line of British troops advancing toward the German position. Some are cut down by the machine gun fire. German gunner firing a captured British Vickers machine gun. British soldiers hunkered down in a deep shell hole behind a ridge. They use their trenching tools to dig in deeper. Several German shells burst in the air. Two British soldiers watch as a tank approaches through the smoke. Large numbers of British troops attack downhill through smoke and haze. German soldiers preparing to defend an occupied structure, as more British troops charge forward. Post-battle view of the area, with fallen soldiers marked by rifles stuck in the ground with helmets on them. (Note: The tanks shown in this film are models Mark V which did not enter service until 1918.)
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