German M-Class mine sweeper in waters off France in World War 2. It is armed with quad-mounted 2 cm Flak 38 AA guns (2 cm Flakvierling 38). German Navy sailors look up at contrails from high flying Allied aircraft. Officer sights aircraft overhead and hurries to report it. He records his observation in a log. German radio operator transmits information over wireless telephone by morse code telegraph key. A mass of contrails from Allied aircraft is seen in the sky. Scene shifts to a German airfield in France, where Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters are lined up. Ground crewman shows motion picture gun camera for an airplane. Men push a Messerschmitt Bf 104 out of a hangar. Closeup of German pilots strapping into Me-104s and taxiing for takeoff. FW-190s and Me-109s taking off from airfield. German civilians entering a Flak tower for refuge as a bomb shelter. View from inside as doors close. Trams stopped on street. Hospital staff moving patients to bunkers (bomb shelters). Massive contrails from Allied bombers. View inside a German command post, where women workers and German officers with headphones plot positions of attacking planes on large maps. Flight of German Me-109 aircraft in formation. Gun camera showing A U.S. B-17 bomber being shot from rear with its wing on fire and explosion in its tail. Glimpse of head-on attack against B-17. Two Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft in flight. A lone U.S. B-24 Liberator bomber under attack. B-17 with piece of windshield missing and horizontal stabilizer shot away. B-17 bomber formation under attack from the rear. View of pilot and instruments inside German fighter plane. B-17 being shot to pieces in frontal attack. More attacks on formations of B-17s. German women in command post recording combat information on displays. Parachutes of American B-17 crew in sky. Captured U.S. fliers being escorted under guard, and one, with head bandaged, being questioned by German officers (English conversation is heard.) The flier says he is fine They ask another flier if he is wounded. He says only a twisted ankle. Temporary graves of dead American fliers, with wooden crosses and names on them, including one with name George J.Parker.
As film begins, two U.S. B-24 bombers are seen taxiing across the Adak airfield to takeoff on a bombing run against the Japanese airfield at Kiska Island. Closeup of B-24 with engines running. About an inch of water covers the ramp. The two bombers take off (followed by others unseen). Airmen on the ground watch them depart. Scene shifts to the port of Adak. A cargo ship and a tugboat moving a barge are seen in the water. Trucks drive along the beachfront. Mountains loom in the background. Military supplies, including munitions are seen piled along the beach. Soldiers carry some goods over their shoulders. Closeup of items piled on the beach. A dog trots along with soldiers walking the beach. Change of scene highlights guns installed as coastal defense on the island, including fixed heavy guns, anti-aircraft guns and machine guns. A sailor viewed through a life safer buoy, paints part of a warship. A Navy PBY Catalina on patrol is seen overhead. U.S. gunboats patrol the harbor. Crew members are seen aboard a U.S. destroyer patrolling deep waters off Adak. They exchange blinker light messages with a Bancroft-class (four-stacker) destroyer. Glimpse of the Bancroft-class destroyer flashing blinkers lights. Sailors on a destroyer respond to alarm of sonar sound contacts and man battle stations. Closeup of a Bancroft-class destroyer, followed by views of depth charges being launched from a destroyer underway. Exchanges of blinker light messages between camera destroyer and a Bancroft-class destroyer.
The RAF (Royal Air Force) visits France to demonstrate to the foreign ally one of the most mobile emergency hospitals yet developed. An RAF Blackburn Beverley transport aircraft taxis at a French airfield. RAF officials seated at the airfield. Medical field unit members disembark from the aircraft. Equipment is unloaded by men and tents are set up. Men carry stimulated stretcher cases into the tents.
View from cockpit of a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft through final approach and landing at Paulis airfield, Republic of Congo. On the ground, Belgian soldiers direct former hostages to board with their baggage via the rear door of the aircraft. View of the C-130 taking off from the airfield. Soon after, another C-130 lands, raising much dust as it reverses all four engines.
A film about D-Day invasion practices by United States 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command in England during World War II. Paratroopers are milling about at an airfield in England. The Commander of 9th Air Force Troop Carrier Command Brigadier General Paul L. Williams dramatizes as the paratroopers leave for D Day practices. Brigadier General Williams speaks to a paratrooper and asks his opinion about the invasion. The paratroopers speak about the invasion as a great responsibility on them. The paratroopers including Captain Charles D. Gun, Captain William K. Colp, Lieutenant Colonel Joel E. Crouch, Captain Frank L. Lillyman. Lined up at the airfield as Brigadier General Williams reviews them. He offers a cigar to Captain Lillyman. The paratroopers board a U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 aircraft.
British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden at an airfield in England during World War II. A car arrives at the airfield and U.S. officers Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers and Major General Ira C. Eaker get off the car. The two officers talk to each other. British Foreign Secretary arrives and talks to the officers. Secretary Eden and Lieutenant General Devers board a U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 aircraft. Aircraft taxis and takes off. Major General Eaker and other officers talk to each other.
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