World War II activities of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces in Culver City, California. Airplanes parked at an air base. Camera equipment being loaded into United States Army Air Force Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan and a United States Army Air Force ( USAAF ) A-20 Havoc aircraft for aerial photography. Men in the cockpit of an airplane. A large formation of A-20s in flight. USAAF Curtiss P-40 aircraft in flight. The engine of a USAAF C-47 Skytrain stops and starts. A PT-17 aircraft flying at low altitude over airfields. A USAAF BT-13 Valiant performs an aileron roll. A USAAF Martin B-26C Marauder drops a large life raft and the BT-13 Valiant spins down. The U.S. flag atop a flag pole. Unit personnel at a retreat ceremony in a part of the main building.
Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in New York City during the Great Depression. Aerial view of New York City as a plane flies by and clouds part to show Manhattan island below. Buildings and skyscrapers of New York City as seen from river and harbor views, with some ships and tugboats seen. Trucks on roads of Governor's Island at tip of Manhattan. An older home seen under renovation and reconstruction. View of the Brooklyn Navy Yard with WPA workers busy building and improving new roads and shops and warehouses near the docks. A bulkhead construction project is shown at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, to reclaim land from the waters of the Bay. The work includes construction of a new Boulevard and sanitary and sewer system improvements. View of the front entrance of the Beaux Arts style Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House on Bowling Green at the tip of Manhattan. Pedestrians and WPA workers are seen in front of the building. WPA laborers on an unidentified Manhattan street (with elevated railway running in background) are busy removing old street car rail lines from the streets, in sections, and loading them into truck beds to haul away. Large public swimming pool and bath house construction projects are shown, influenced by city planner and avid swimmer Robert Moses (scene possibly shows McCarren Park pool - note archway seen under construction). WPA workers are seen building the new East River Drive, including highways, walks, and flanking parks. Construction workers seen building the roadway, with the Williamsburg Bridge in the background. A model of the project is shown with the new drive from Grand Street to 14th Street. Camera pans down from the Empire State Building to show the roof of the New York Public Library teeming with WPA workers as they remove the old corroded copper roof and replace it with a new metal roof. View of busy Manhattan streets below the workers, including a street car passing by.
Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in New York during the Great Depression. An Eastern Airlines DC-3 passenger airplane with painted words on side "The Great Silver Fleet" taxis on a runway at Floyd Bennett Airport field by Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn, New York City. Narrator describes WPA improvements to the airport. Plane parks atop a novel turntable and then is rotated to desired position. Rear hatch opens and crew member steps out. Trap door on ground near plane opens revealing a stairwell downward which debarking passengers then use to walk toward the main terminal. View of skyport landing and takeoff area on the East River and a pontoon-equipped small aircraft coming in for landing at one of these two skyports providing air taxi service from Manhattan Island. Narrator indicates that one skyport is located at 31st Street and another at Wall Street.
Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in New York City during the Great Depression. Skilled architects, draftsmen, and artists work for the WPA on a massive scale model of New York City, built in cooperation with New York University (this model predates the famous Panorama of New York City model built for the 1964 World's Fair). An artist is seen leaning over part of the model painting one of its features, which include detailed roads, bridges, buildings, and waterways. A hand lifts a building and measures its base with a ruler. Cartographic Survey WPA workers are seen creating a relief map of Staten Island for educational use. Men and women artists, including sculptors, are seen creating new sculptures funded by WPA. A man carves a bust in an art studio or class. Another man carves a relief stone commemorating Dewitt Clinton. A man stands in a Free Library and looks at books. Two women on a park bench look at books from the WPA Free Library holdings. A skilled artist is seen laying out and buildings stained glass windows for the United States Military Academy at Westpoint in New York. Stained glass panels depicting George Washington and soldiers are seen. A series of the George Washington stained glass windows is seen in place, with the artist applying final touches. Men work on the Federal Theater Project. Billboard signs advertising various WPA funded theatre productions in 1936 are shown, including Jefferson Davis, The World's Greatest Circus, Taking the Air, The Mikado, Macbeth, All American Minstrels, Battle Hymn, and Horse Eats Hat.
Great Depression era Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in New York City. A sign reads: 'Play Street Closed'. Children play various games and sports on a street in New York City that has been closed to traffic, under the supervision of WPA employees. A man instructs them. They play checkers, jacks, and a small court tennis game using ping pong paddles. They play round games holding hands and moving together. Children seen entering the toyery, an experimental program at the Heckscher Foundation For Children. A boy smiles as a woman in the toyery hands him a truck toy to borrow from the lending library of toys. Several children are shown trading in a toy for a different toy. Children seated in a room show each other flashcards to improve their reading skills, during remedial instruction time. Women in a Long Island City kitchen prepare school lunches for 800 needy children. A woman cook prepares a sandwich and a group of women wrap up batches of sandwiches. View of a day nursery, with a nap or rest area with small beds. A nurse in the nursery examines a child's mouth with a tongue depressor. Young children play with blocks in the nursery. They sit at tables in a dining room. Children drink milk and eat food.
Celebration of VJ Day (victory over Japan day) in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II. Czech girls in native dresses dance in front of a reviewing stand. American, Russian and Czech troops parade through the streets. A Liaison plane drops pamphlets. U.S. Army Major General Ernest Nason Harmon speaks from the reviewing stand. American Ambassador to Czechoslovakia Laurence A. Steinhardt, Russian Colonel General Zhadou and other dignitaries in the background.
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