American military aircraft training circa 1940. A Link Trainer in operation at an aviation training facility. Used for teaching pilots instrument flying, it is seen moving physically in response to the actuation of artificial flight control actions as the trainee responds to instrument indications inside the mockup cockpit. It bears the number 654, on its mock tail. The wings and tail are for decoration only. Scene shifts to formations of various aircraft in flight over a body of water. The aircraft appear to be U.S. Navy types, including: Grumman F4F Wildcat; Douglas TBD Devastator; and Grumman TBF Avenger. Another formation shows many North American training aircraft in flight over the water.
Scene at Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Port Newark, New Jersey, as the U.S. Destroyer Escort USS McConnell is launched. Shipyard workers aboard the deck and handling lines. U.S. Naval Ensign displayed at her bow and crew looking down. Mrs. Grace Otteson McConnell swings the bottle of champagne and the USS McConnell slides down the ways after christening. View from deck of the McConnell as she goes down the ways. View from water, as she enters, stern-first. Change of scene to high vantage point overlooking the shipyard, at change of shift, when those ending leave and those arriving enter the yard to start work. Workers leaving through guarded gate. Incoming workers punching in on the time clock.
Elements of the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet designated “Formosa Strait Force” (Task Force 72), sent by President Harry S. Truman to keep peace between Formosa (Republic of China or Taiwan) and Mainland China (People’s Republic of China), in 1950. The U.S. Navy Destroyer Maddox (DD 731) underway. Views aboard the flagship of the Formosa Patrol, the light cruiser, USS Juneau (CL 119) as sailors respond to a drill. Two are seen entering one of the USS Juneau's gun turrets housing a Mark 12, 5-inch/38 caliber gun. Glimpse of the closed turret with single gun barrel seen at the front. Gun crew maneuvering one of the USS Juneau's quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns. Sailors arranging shells for the USS Juneau's guns. Officers on deck pointing at other ships and observing them through binoculars. Glimpse of two landing craft (possibly Landing Craft Infantry) underway.
Operations aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Essex (CVA-9) during amphibious deployment of U.S. Marines to Beirut, Lebanon, in 1958. Sailor writes information on plexiglass board as he receives it through headset earphones. Sailors monitor radar scopes. Room is dimly lit and light reflects off their faces as they receive information and converse on interphone. Radar man, holds mike and speaks a while monitoring scope. Navigator plots positions on a navigation chart in chart room aboard the USS Essex. Chart and notes indicate the ship's position in the Mediterranean, as 270 miles from Nicosia, Cyprus, and 480 miles from Beirut, Lebanon. (Note on chart states that flight over Cyprus is prohibited.)
U.S. Army troop transports in line during World War I. Convoy of ships at sea. U.S. troops aboard ship. The Commissary Officer inspects the butcher shop, the bakery and galley. Troops line up in galley and receive food and eat it. Troops sleep in crowded bunks. View of sick bay. Men in the Engine room. Men stoke boiler furnace. View of waves crashing over bow of ship in heavy seas and rough waters.
Film about the shipping of American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union, via the " Persian Corridor " during World War 2. It focuses on activities at Abadan Airfield, Iran. U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) Colonel Charles Porter, Commanding Officer of the Allied Abadan military establishment in Iran, stands with a Soviet Colonel, who supervises Soviet work on the field. With them is USAAF Brigadier General Macmillan., who was visiting the base at this time. They pose in front of a P-39 Bell Aircobra airplane displaying a red Soviet Star insignia. Next, ground crews are seen towing aircraft on the field, including a Douglas A-20 Havoc and a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Mechanics work on several P-40 airplanes on the ramp. A North American Aviation T-6 Texan aircraft is being refueled from a truck .Closeup of ground crewman holding refueling hose over the wing of the T-6. USAAF mechanics conduct post-assembly checks on a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber and tow another one (Serial number 41-3225) from a hangar, to the Soviet side of the field, after completing its inspection. Soviet mechanics are seen checking guns in the rear cockpit of an aircraft. Glimpse of several P-40 aircraft and a T-6 aircraft on a ramp. Soviet and American mechanics working together on the wings of aircraft. Closeup of two working together. As a Soviet soldier watches, an American airman uses a paint brush to change the American white star on an airplane, into the Soviet red star. The two shake hands when the painting is done. Soviet ground crew push a P-40 aircraft into position for starting. A soviet pilot, wearing a seat pack parachute, climbs into the cockpit. Closeup of him as he nods to a ground crewman for engine start. He taxis out and takes off. Several T-6 aircraft on the Soviet side of the field are seen, ready to be flown away. Views of other aircraft being readied for ferrying to Russia. Camera pans over the airfield and the many aircraft parked there.
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