USS aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38) being launched from Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Mrs. Josephine Doolittle sponsors the USS aircraft carrier. Crowd cheers as the USS Shangri-La is launched. Flashbacks show B-25 aircrafts taking off from the USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo Japan in the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942. The base identified for that attack had been the non-existent "Shangri-La". U.S. President Roosevelt decorates General James Doolittle who was the Commander of Doolittle Raid. USS Shangri-La is christened and slides into the waters at Norfolk. (World War II period).
A sign reads 'US Navy Sub Section Base' and insignia of PT Squadron is seen. (The mosquito insignia design was created by Disney animation studio artists for the "Mosquito Fleet" of PT boats -- squadron RON 3 stationed in the Philippines). U.S. Navy PT motor torpedo boat passing from repair dock. Man paints keel. A bridge and turret seen. United States flag seen. PT boat along the dock.
Doctor and corpsmen attend sick patients at PT Base in Green Island Atoll in South Pacific. Medicine bottles neatly arranged. A man uses a stethoscope on a patient. Men lying on make shift beds. A sign reads 'Keep out.' A man enters a room in which medicines are stored. Man fills a jug with water.
Illustrating typical activity during the Battle of Britain, in World War 2, one British squadron lands and is refueled and re-armed before taking off to rejoin the battle. As they take off, 12 Spitfires of their sister squadron return to land in squadron formation. Supermarine Spitfire aircraft of RAF 41 Squadron (Code "EB") are seen landing at their home base, RAF Hornchurch. Ground crewmen,at each wingtip, guide the aircraft to parking places for refueling and rearming. View from behind a Spitfire taxiing out to take off again. Several others are already airborne in the opposite direction. Spitfire aircraft of RAF No. 222 Squadron (Code "ZD") overfly the field and then commence to land as one formation. They taxi across the field.
A dozen RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk1 fighter planes of No. 222 Squadron take off during the Battle of Britain in World War 2. They take of in unison, from their base at RAF Station Hornchurch, and fly very low in loose formation over the terrain. Next, they are seen, fairly close up, flying in flights of three, as viewed from another (camera) airplane. Puffy white clouds are in the background. The Squadron flies by in four flights of three each. They are seen from various angles and distances and join up to fly as a single formation of 12 near the end of the film.
Scene opens showing German soldiers at an anti-aircraft battery standing near a large horn (possibly an acoustic tracking device) as they scan the skies with binoculars looking for Allied aircraft, early in World War 2. One soldier rotates a 1-meter-base range-finder mounted on his helmet. View shifts to German gun crew viewed from above, looking down the barrel of their 12.8 cm Flak 40 gun.The crew elevates the gun barrel, preparing to fire. Next a German gun crew operates their anti-aircraft gun from a well sandbagged position. Closeup of one gunner loading a shell. A soldier with range finder working with smaller gun crew. Closeup of soldier pointing toward enemy (Allied) aircraft. Sound of gun batteries firing and views of aircraft struck and descending on fire. It crashes into countryside. Closeup of crash site, with smoke rising and debris from aircraft scattered about. Momentary glimpse of soldiers marching along a country road. Gun crew firing 12.8 Flak 40, and muffled sounds of gunfire accompanying views of black flak puffs in the sky. View from an aircraft strafing a railroad train and striking the locomotive.
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