Training flights at Floyd Bennett Field, New York. Officer trains the Naval Air Reserve airmen in a hall. They study the map on a wall. Officers arrive near airplanes parked on the airfield. They board the planes and the planes take off. Planes in formation.
Crowd gathered at an airfield in the U.S. to go aboard the famed "Memphis Belle," during a War Bond Drive in World War 2. People going up a stairway set up by the B-17F parked on the ramp. Scene shifts to Major Robert Morgan, pilot of the aircraft, as he stands on a bunting-decorated platform in front of the Memphis Belle, with crew members behind him. Major Morgan gives a talk about War Bonds. Camera pans over a sizeable crowd gathered for the event. When it returns to Major Morgan, he is holding the crew's mascot, a black scotty dog named "Stuka."
Film opens showing several Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers, of the USAAF 93rd Bombardment Group, taxiing on the airfield at RAF Station Hardwick, in England, during World War 2. Numerous views of United States B-24 Liberator aircraft taking off, landing, and flying in formation over the aerodrome. Various examples of nose art and airplane names are seen. Among these are: a B-24 named 'Shoot Luke'; and another named 'Ball of Fire Junior'. A third B-24 is named 'Heinie Hunter'.
Mission footage outtakes from the film "Memphis Belle". The B-17 Flying Fortress known as "Memphis Belle" in flight in the European Theater. Pilot of the Memphis Belle, Robert K. Morgan, at the controls. He wears an oxygen mask and earphones. View of ground area beneath the aircraft, including an airfield. Exterior view of turret gun rotating
Final preparations for the D-day invasion of Normandy, France, in World War 2. View of the USS Augusta (CA-31). Allied senior commanders on the Augusta, making decision to delay invasion 24 hours for weather. U.S. Army Airborne troops boarding buses for airfields in England. Formations of B-26 bombers overhead. B-17 bombing lines of communication. Invasion convoy ships underway. Gliders and C-47 tow planes in D-day stripes. C-47 aircrews and glider pilots being briefed. Brigadier General James Gavin, Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, briefing his paratroopers. Chaplain conducting religious services. General Dwight D Eisenhower visiting paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division. U.S. paratroopers boarding their C-47 transport planes. Troopers fastening parachute packs (parapacks) of equipment onto a C-47 for airdrop. Paratroopers loading their equipment onto a Waco CG-4A glider. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne putting on their chutes and equipment. Jumpmaster checking each soldier's chute. The troopers helping one another as they board the aircraft. C-47 tow planes taking off with gliders behind. All planes in D-day white stripes.
U.S. Marines in action in the Northern Provinces of South Vietnam, near the DMZ. They are seen in full combat gear, carrying small arms, including recoilless weapons, as they move across green fields where smoke is rising. Next, they are seen spread out and moving across muddy rice paddies. A U.S.jet fighter streaks across a shoreline at low altitude. Views from a Marine jet fighter bomber dropping bombs on Viet Cong targets from low altitude. Explosions on the ground are seen from behind the aircraft as it passes. Brief view from ground of bomb striking and black smoke rising. Closeup (in 1969) of two McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms from U.S. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 (with Red devil insignia on their tails) flying in tight formation. View of pilot in front cockpit an F-4. Aerial view from below of the pair of F-4s. Closeup view from below, as an F-4 releases ordnance in flight. A huge explosion fills the screen as film title slate appeared reading: "Counterpunch." (narrated by Jack Webb). Sign at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California, is shown. Marine sentry at entrance checks identifications of persons arriving at the gatehouse. Marines seen firing mortars, during training. A C-47 transport airplane airdrops supplies to Marines on the ground. Marines in jeeps drive across sand where a bulldozer is working on an airfield under construction. Front view glimpse of a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk aircraft taking off. A pair of Marine Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters in flight. Group of U.S. Marine Corps officers looking over a model of terrain while being briefed by a Lieutenant Colonel during training "Operation Alligator Hide" in 1967, at the White Beach Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. Closeup of the detailed mockup of the terrain. Another officer briefs about the use of F-4 and A-4 aircraft support prior to a helicopter assault. Bombs exploding near a bridge. Marines using small 4-wheeled self-propelled open vehicles as they move along a hillside during the exercise. A Captain at a field command post states he will mark a target with white phosphorus (Willy Pete). A tank is seen maneuvering. Pilot is seen responding from cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk aircraft. An M48A3 Medium Tank is seen on the ground and two F-4s of Squadron 232 in the air. The tank crew fires a white phosphorus round into the hillside, where it generates white smoke. An F-4 is seen flying low toward the area and a bomb explodes on the marked target. Amphibious training is seen, with Marines charging a beach from a landing craft; a tank wading ashore; Marines hit the beach from an LVTP-5 (Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel); Fighter bomber dropping a bomb from offshore; glimpse of Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.
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