Activities at the First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles, France during World War I. An early morning scene shows a large number of new De Havilland DH-4 bombers, painted in French colors, parked on the airfield. Pilots and mechanics begin to move amongst the aircraft and work on them. Extended panorama of hangars and buildings with clouds in the sky. New DH-4 and Spad XIII aircraft near canvas hangars. Some aircraft stripped for parts or repair. Mechanics and pilots near the aircraft. Men smooth parts of the airfield using horse-drawn wooden platforms. Pilots and mechanics near new and repaired parked aircraft.
A public television program by the U.S. Army entitled 'The Big Picture.' U.S. troops are seen hunkered down and looking through binoculars in a defensive position in Korea, during the Korean War. American soldiers riding atop a Sherman tank on a city street in Germany, during World War II. Ski troops moving across snowy hill in Alaska. U.S. Army amphibious assault training on a beach in Puerto Rico. Army Master Sergeant Stuart Queen, narrator, speaks about America's defense against threat of atomic attack in these times of lukewarm peace. View of mountainous region in Alaska. A cluster of Cup'it Eskimo dwellings is seen on Nunivak Island, in the Bering Sea. Several of the local inhabitants are fishing through holes cut in the ice. Vapor trails are seen from Soviet aircraft flying at high altitude. A sign on a tarpaulin displaying logo of the Army Signal Corps, reads,"Alaska Communication System, Long Distance Commercial Telephone-Telegraph." A tracked vehicle carries a soldier to a facility posting a sign reading, "Alaska Communications System Receiver Station." Several tall antennas loom above the site. The soldier, dressed in arctic gear, steps from the tracked vehicle and walks past several snow shoes, standing upright in the snow, to enter a white wooden building. Inside, a man in civilian clothes works at a battery of telecomunications equipment. He transmits a message about the aircraft sighting, to the Alaska Communication System facility in Fairbanks Alaska (briefly shown) by means of a telegraph key. From there it is relayed to a Signal Corps facility, shown, in Washington, DC. A soldier is seen Inside that facility, in a room filled with computers and telecommunications equipment. A Sergeant handles paper tape messages being sent and received by teletype. Another soldier plugs connections into a communications switchboard. Next, the camera pans over the entrance to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in the Pentagon. More views of soldiers attending banks of teletype machines. Animated map displays paths of orders being transmitted to U.S. Air Defense Centers in San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York, and Atlanta. View from control room, of several U.S. Air Force F-94 Fighter Interceptor aircraft on an airfield ramp. A controller activates a Klaxon horn and pilots on alert, in the Fighter Interceptor Squadron ready room, jump up and scramble to their aircraft. A pair of F-94s taking off. One is number 51-5385. Next, a U.S. Navy F-9 fighter plane is seen taking off from an airfield. It displays tail code AE. It is followed by another F-9 aircraft.
The history of aviation. Aircraft parked on an airfield in France. Wilbur Wright adjusts a transporting wheel on the airplane. He places the wheel beneath a wing and attaches it by the means of a strap. A horse and two wheel cart to which the rope is attached, pulls the Wright aircraft across the airfield. Two men pull the propellers through on the Wright aircraft. Wilbur Wright in the background making adjustments upon the aircraft motor. Men check the launching rail. The aircraft is moved into position on the launching rail. Men pull weight up to the top of a launching tower. Wright aircraft demonstration in France in 1908. Spectators attend the demonstration. They include military and civilian men and women.
United Airlines DC-3 Mainliner aircraft lands and taxis to the airfield ramp,at Oakland, California. U.S. military and civilian officials, and newsmen gather around the airplane as its doors open. A crowd of spectators and well-wishers fill an area at the airfield terminal. Closeup of three Soviet flyers, standing and waving from the top of stairs at the plane's door. They are Pilot Valery Chkalov; Co-pilot Georgy Baydukov and Navigator Alexander Belyakov. They left Moscow, Russia, June 18, 1937 in a single-engine Soviet Tupolev ANT-25 aircraft on a flight over the North Pole and finally landed after 63 hours and 25 minutes, at. the U.S. Army Pearson Field in Fort Vancouver Barracks (Washington State, USA). Scene shifts to Pearson Field, where their airplane is being prepared for shipment back to Russia. U.S. Army soldiers package up recording instruments preserving evidence of the flight necessary to document their accomplishment. They remove and package loose articles, such as parachutes. View of the airplane being completely covered in protective tarp wrappings.
Flight tests of Ercoupe airplane without and with an auxiliary jet propulsion at March Field in California. Check posts made of aluminium sheets at an airfield. A sign on a check post: 'Explosives'. Solid propellant sections leave thrust to be used in Ercoupe airplane flight tests at the airfield.
Film opens showing entrance to cockpit of a U.S. Air Force Troop Carrier Douglas C-124 Globemaster aircraft en route from France to Indochina. A pilot is seen at the controls in the left seat, and the Aircraft Commander is observing from behind and between the pilots' seats. Close-up of number 3 and 4 engines with propellers turning as viewed from copilot's window. Two crew members are seen asleep on bunks in rear of flight deck compartment. Another is napping in a bulkhead seat. More views of engines running and propellers turning. Glimpse downward of land and clouds below. Close-up of Copilot in right seat of cockpit, wearing headset and making an announcement through his microphone. View of French paratroopers seated in cargo compartment, listening to the announcement from loudspeaker above them. Next, a French paratrooper passenger is seen opening contents of a flight lunch package. He uses the tiny can opener included in the package to open a can (with some difficulty). Paratroopers eating flight lunches.Two of the passengers playing chess on a miniature board with plug-in chessmen. Close-up of the chessboard. Co-pilot speaking on intercom again and a French paratrooper, wearing headset and microphone, speaking as well (likely translating). Glimpse of engine running on left wing. A different person (not in flight suit) at the controls in copilot's seat. The crew's Flight Engineer making throttle adjustments at his panel. View on the ground of French greeting party on the destination airfield to meet the arriving aircraft. Arriving C-124 aircraft taxiing on inboard engines only, as it proceeds along layers of pierced steel plank (Marsden matting) comprising the surface of airfield ramp. Views of French military waiting to greet arriving paratroopers. The aircrew's loadmaster lowering one of the aircraft's front loading ramps. French paratrooper passengers use it to leave the aircraft. (The other ramp is partially down and contains cartons and boxes.) Close-up of a French major in the greeting party. A woman greeting troopers, individually, as come down the ramp from the aircraft. Some French aircraft lined up on ramp, in background. (They appear to be Grumman F8F Bearcat aircraft.) Glimpse of an armed French Colonial (Tirailleurs Sénégalais) sentry standing near the aircraft. Troopers carrying cartons of rations from the aircraft and joining others preparing to board trucks for a ride to their quarters. Uniformed French soldiers in the greeting party help load heavy crate into an Army truck. Some troopers leave on trucks.
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