Slate identifies location as A-83 (Denain-Prouvy Airdrome, France) and date as 29 April (1945). Ground crew armorers are connecting wires to bombs and loading them into the bomb bay of a a U.S. Army Air Forces Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft of the 323rd Bombardment Group. View from under the aircraft as a crewman gives signal to close bomb bay doors and they slowly close and lock. Ground crewman removes a metal chock from the aircraft wheel. Flight crew members climb aboard the aircraft. A crew member writes in chalk on a bomb sitting on the ground. The message is: "Happy Boithday Hoimann from Duffy's Tavern," (conveying the New York accent associated with characters in "Duffys Tavern" radio show). World War 2; WWII; WW2.
Film begins, showing remains of a Boeing B-17F from the U.S. 100th Bombardment Group (BG) with home base at RAF Station Thorpe Abbotts, England, during World War 2. Camera pans over a field of debris containing two of the aircraft's engines and the wreckage of the fuselage and tail. The tail displays the Square D symbol of the 100th BG, plus the letter "T" and some of its tail number: "2303." Camera pans interior wreckage including crew seats and oxygen tanks. It then shows broken wings along with bodies of several crew members wearing parachute harnesses. A different side of the fuselage and tail shows the tail number "230311." This fully identifies it as B-17, number 42-23011. A field grade German officer and another officer examine the wreckage. Views of aircraft wreckage, in a forest, including a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun and another aircraft engine. Scene shifts to nearby town, where German women in white are serving meals at an outdoor food kitchen, for local people who are preparing to evacuate. A camper van loaded with family belongings is seen moving in the background. Several women, carrying plates of their food, walk toward tables. Some sit and eat at a table with a German soldier. Women make themselves sandwiches with foods laid out on a butcher block table. Closeup of a large drum of drinking water. local people fill containers from it. German children are seen aboard a bus waving goodbye to their mothers during evacuation for their safety. German children are placed aboard open boats at a port, for transport to safety out of war zone. German women and children board a train during evacuation to safety. Huge piles of their luggage is stacked on the train platform. View of a substantial private home in a residential area. Inside view shows it has been converted into nursery for infants, who are seen in many small cribs. Women sit on the lawn behind a substantial country home, as some small children run toward them from the house.
A U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) training film titled 'How to fly the B-17. Part I. Ground Operations.' about inspections and safety precautions by a pilot prior to take off. A USAAF officer trains a new pilot beginning his career as a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. The instructing officer, trainee pilot and aircraft engineer in the cockpit, prepare for take off. The fire guard gives the all clear. The pilot is instructed to check and adjust the: master and ignition switches, batteries and inverter power, volts on the inverter. The pilot reaches out of the cockpit window and gives the hand signal for external power (source of electric power). The ground crew man turns on the portable generator and links the power cable to the aircraft. Further cockpit check includes turning on or inspection of: parking brakes, hydraulics check, booster pumps, pressure carborator filters, fuel quantity in the tanks. the pilot is instructed to give the signal to start engine number 1 and adjust the throttle. Check: the starter switch, hand timer, other start and mesh controls, oil pressure, RPM. The pilot gives the signal to start engine number 2. Adjustment of the vacuum selector switch, flight indicator check. The officer instructs the pilot to repeat all inspection procedures for engine number 2 as conducted for engine number 1. (World War II period).
Opening scene shows a fuel gauge reading half empty in a U.S. Army Air Forces Stearman Boeing PT-17 “Kaydet” bi-plane trainer aircraft. Closeup of pilot with helmet and goggles in open cockpit of the airplane. Narrator says rules require pilot to return to base immediately. View of the aircraft descending toward the field. Animated diagram showing proper entry into left traffic for the active runway. View of PT-17 on final approach to the runway. Closeup of pilot in the cockpit. He makes a three-point landing on the first third of the runway and rolls without braking. Next, assisted by a wing walker, the pilot taxis to an open slot on a line of aircraft and stops on a parking line. The pilot steps from the cockpit, wearing a seat pack parachute, and begins walking to the field office, when he stops to converse with the narrator. He complains, somewhat about the restrictive rules for pilots in training and expresses desire to fight the Germans and Japanese in World War 2. Narrator defends the rules of safety, first, saying "You can't fight until you can fly." Scene shifts to four pilot trainees who "washed out" of the program for various infractions of the trainin safety rules. They are carrying their belongings in duffle bags and wait at a bus stop for transportation away from the base. Camera focuses on each of the men in turn, as narrator describes their failures to follow rules. Scene shifts to the airdrome where successful student pilots are seen walking toward the camera. Series of scenes showing student pilots performing various preparatory actions before flying their planes. One standing on a wing, checks the "Form One" that contains aircraft maintenance record. Another sitting in his cockpit notes that his gas, oil,cockpit switches, and flight controls all check OK. Another pilot is fastening leg straps of his seat pack parachute and comments about need to keep checking when taxiing down the line for takeoff. Closeups of pilots addressing the camera with admonitions about rules to follow. View of massed parked PT-17 training planes. Views of current war planes in flight, including Bell P-39 Aircobra, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and Martin B-26 Marauder bombers. Many good views of such airplanes in takeoffs, formations and aerobatic maneuvers. (World War II; WW II; World War 2; World War Two)
Renewed manufacturing activity throughout the nation recalls thousands of workers as the American industry forges onward and shows some signs of improvement during the great depression. Bloomington, Illinois: Workers manufacture oil heaters. They work on various machines and equipment. Middleton, Ohio: 2400 men at work in one of the big rolling mill companies. The workers arrive at the steel mill. Steel processing. Santa Monica, California: Men and women report for work at the Douglas Aircraft Plant. They work on a tight schedule for the new type Army torpedo and bombing planes. Men work on various parts of the aircraft. Chicago, Illinois: The Atlas Brewing Company, a huge brewery and bottling works where the production has been speeded to almost 30,000 bottles of beer an hour to meet a surge of demand following the passing of the Volstead Act allowing 3.2 beer (3.2% alchohol), near the end of prohibition in America. Beer Bottles move on conveyor belts. The bottles are filled, packed in crates and readied for transportation.
World War II. B-17s of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) 303rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) 'Hell's Angels' staging at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine, on their way to their base at RAF Station Molesworth, in England. Airmen work on a parked Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Names and nose art on the B-17s: Art work on nose, body, and tail art reveal aircraft names like: 'Perk the Jerk', 'Gunnin for Marijane' under the dorsal turret, 'Duke of Paducah', 'Klee's Lounge', 'Kiler Kilgore', 'Hell Cat', 'The 8 Ball', 'The Duchess', 'One 'o' Clock Jump', 'The Devil Himself' under the aircraft nose, 'Bad Check', 'Delta Rebel No. 2', 'Knock-Out Dropper', 'Sky Club' and 'Continental' on propellers, 'Wild Bill' on a nose, 'Pepper Box' under a dorsal turret, 'Wee Willie Woo', 'Hornet's Nest', 'Lady Fairweather', 'Margaret - M' under a dorsal turret, 'Canuck' on a nose, 'Squirt' and 'Maggie' on propellers, 'Mimi' on a nose. A B-17 called 'The Green Hornet'. Two airmen stand under the aircraft. 'Yahoodi' with 'Si the Gonuf' made on an aircraft. Note: From Brian O’Neill’s “303rd Bombardment Group” here is the fate of the name ships in this film. “Hell Cat” 41-24580, pilot: T.O. O’Connor, fate: MIA 23 Jan 43 “The 8 Ball” 41-24581, pilot: W.R. Calhoun, fate: C/L UK 20 Dec 43 “The Duchess” 41-24561, pilot: H.L. Stouse, fate: ret USA, 7 Jul 44 “One O’Clock Jump” 41-24582, pilot: W.N. Frost, fate: MIA 12 Dec 42 “The Devil Himself” 41-24612, pilot: R.S. Hayes, fate: ret USA 20 Dec 44 “Bad Check” 41-24587, pilot: B.B. Southworth Jr., fate: MIA 11 Jan 44 “Knockout Dropper” 41-24605, pilot: J. Rolle, fate: ret USA 27 Mar 44 “Lady Fairweather” 41-24568, pilot: A.R. Redding, fate: MIA 23 Nov 42 “The Green Hornet” 41-24603, pilot: E.J. Sanderson, fate: MIA 23 Nov 42 “Yehudi” 41-24608, pilot: F.A. Saunders, fate MIA 3 Jan 43 (Also seen is a 91at Bomb Group B-17:“Delta Rebel No. 2” 42-5077, pilot: Lt Birdsong, fate: MIA 12 Aug 43. It is seen because the 91st BG was passing through Dow Field at the same time, during deployment to England.)
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