U.S. military personnel working at end of Henderson airfield on Guadalcanal during World War 2. One pushes a wheelbarrow. Camera pans across and along runway to P-38 aircraft parked haphazardly in grass. It continues to pan, showing lots of damaged aircraft and parts, including several P-40s. Mechanics work on one of the P-40s. A fuel truck passes. Tents are seen behind the piles of parts and aircraft. Numerous auxiliary fuel tanks are piled up in one area. Broken aircraft parts are seen in a ditch off the side of the runway. Trees and foliage are in the background with tents pitched amongst them. As the camera continues to pan farther down the runway, it reveals more orderly campsites, with tents and laundry drying. Mechanics work on the engine of a P-38 parked on a sandy ramp. Palm trees and water seen in background. More P-38s are parked in good order. Scene shifts to a P-38 taking off. It is followed by a second, and then a third, all taking off in quick succession.
United States Army Air Force airmen at their base in the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, during World War 2. They stand on a ridge watching cleanup operations at site where P-51D 44-63912 "Miss Jackie" of the 531st Fighter Squadron, 21st Fighter Group suffered severe damage from a ground loop at Central Field, Iwo Jima. Other P-51s parked on the flightline in background. The site is surrounded by Airmen cleaning up and salvaging equipment and parts. Machine gun ammunition belts from the wreck. Men look beneath the damaged plane.
Camera pans across North airfield on Guam, Mariana Islands, in World War 2. Next a large group of Airmen are seen standing around a shiny B-29 bomber parked on the ramp. It has "K333" stenciled on left side of its forward fuselage. Its tail number is 42-224802. (This B-29 is named "Purple Shaft," but that is not stenciled on its left side.) The airmen walk around and examine it. Next, The aircraft commander, Lieutenant Warren Richard Aylsworth is seen speaking with a Captain, as they stand next to the plane. Others join in the conversation. (Note: The plane is scheduled to fly to Tinian this night, the 20th, but will land at Saipan, instead, because runway lights were not yet operational on Tinian. The "Purple Shaft" will be the first B-29 to arrive at Tinian, the following day, December 21, 1944.)
American naval triple guns firing, in World War 2. The battleship, USS West Virginia, modernized and in camouflage, firing guns at a Pacific island. U.S.troops firing weapons from a beachhead. American soldiers manning a 155mm howitzer under camouflage netting. Another gun crew firing at zero elevation from heavily sandbagged position near buildings. Black flak clouds filling the air as American aircraft carrier fights off Japaneae Kanikase attack. The Kamikase plane appearing to by hit by flak. Cluster of Doouglas Dauntless planes on the carrier deck. Closeup of sailors firing double Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns from the carrier. Downed aircraft plunging into the sea. American troops riding a landing vehicle tracked (LVT) during amphibious assault. Landing craft stacking up along beach and subject to intense enemy fire during amphibious assault. One is hit and blows up. Flame thrower being usee to drive Japanese defenders from fortified positions. One runs out aflame. U.S. soldier throwing a grenade. American troops quick time entering an occupied town in Europe. Explosions and U.S. infantry passing destroyed buildings. Soldier firing a mortar. U.S. soldiers carrying a wounded on stretcher under fire.
Opens showing maps of German and Japanese occupied territory during World War 2. Camera zooms in on the Japanese territory and shows points of Allied pressure against it during the war. Camera zooms in on German occupied areas and shows Allied pressure from The Atlantic and Mediterranean. View from above of formations of C-47 transport aircraft flying over water. (It may involve an invasion rehearsal, because the planes are not in D-Day stripes.) Formations of boats leaving long wakes as viewed from aircraft overhead. U.S. paratroopers relaxing inside a C-47 aircraft. They are alerted and don their helmets preparing to jump. Formation of C-46 Commando transport aircraft viewed from below. A paratrooper hooked up to a static line inside a transport plane. View from one of the aircraft in a formation dropping paratroopers over desert area. Their black chutes opening below the aircraft. Occasional white chutes seen. White parachutes seen from above as they descent toward agricultural land below.
U.S. Army Waco CG-4A combat gliders viewed from the ground where others have already landed, in France on D-Day during World War 2. One lands successfully. Another looms overhead near trees, makes a landing, and while sliding a long way to a stop, noses over completely and is destroyed.
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