A homestead on a farm in the U.S. Great Plains. Horse carts break the plains. A woman sweeps stairs. A man and a child stand on the plains near a plow. The homesteaders look towards the sky in hope of rain. An explosion on the land. News headlines: 'England declares war on Germany, Belgium invaded, French win at sea' and 'War news tumbles securities, Stock Exchange Closed, Wheat Prices Soar'. A man drives a tractor with a plow on a plain land and dust cloud rises. The plow breaks the plains. News headlines: 'Wilson proclaims war, Spy ring arrested, German ships seized' and 'War sends wheat soaring, Grain up 13 points, Pit in Pandemonium'. The postwar (WWI) decline of the wheat market results in overproduction and spurs dust bowl conditions: Farm machinery is used to sow the land. Wheat grains are poured into a thresher. A steamer at a sea. Tractors are driven and plows break the plains. A dust storm in the foreground. Overproduction of wheat shown. Farmers celebrate the production of wheat. Tractors driven in the Great Plains.
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion arrives in Washington DC, United States for a visit. An Israeli airplane taxis in front of the U.S. Military Air Transport Service Terminal, Washington; located at Washington National Airport in Arlington Virginia. David Ben-Gurion is on a visit to the U.S. during which he will enlist American aid for Israel bond drive. Citizens stand behind railings guarded by security guards. The Prime Minister disembarks from the airplane. He is greeted by U.S. officials.
U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur testifies on the Pacific crisis in front of a senate war committee in Washington. General MacArthur arrives at the Senate Building for the opening of Joint Military Affairs and Foreign Affairs Committee session. Exterior of the building and cars parked outside the building. Officers carry a map in the session room. General Mac Arthur is greeted by U.S. Vice President Alben W. Barkley and Senator Charles William Tobey. Cameramen click photographs. The session is held behind closed doors and security guards stand guard outside the door. The session is exercised and newsmen prepare for publishing the news about the session. General MacArthur leaves the session.
Activities of men aboard USS Olympus (AGC-8) in the Atlantic Ocean during Operation High Jump. Men hold a Christmas tree on the deck. The Christmas tree is hoisted into air. Men heave on the line attached to the tree. They secure lines. USS Sennet en route to Antarctica. USS Sennet (SS-408) in rough seas, bow pitches. USS Mt. Olympus in the foreground. Men on Mt. Olympus look out at USS Sennet pitching in rough seas.
A U.S. Air Force trooper carrier Douglas C-124 Globemaster aircraft is seen parked at the Orly Airfield, in France, with some men standing beneath it. Close-up of two U.S. Air Force officers conversing with a French Paratroop officer (in civilian clothes, but wearing a foulard) and a French military officer, in trench coat and overseas cap. View shifts to French paratroopers, carrying their gear and entering the C-124 aircraft by way of its ramps lowered from the open clamshell door. Glimpse from inside the aircraft cabin of the troopers approaching in a long line. View, from below and behind the open doors, of troopers walking up the ramps. Close-up of troopers with duffle bags passing the camera. Interior of the C-124 seen from the ramp entrance, as aircraft crew members walk to the ladder leading to the upper crew compartment. More views of French troopers, with gear, boarding the aircraft. View of cabin where troopers are seated, and the Air Force crew's loadmaster is securing some of the cargo with tie down straps. The American aircraft commander, dressed in flight suit, shakes hands with French officers, and signs something, before departing. People standing nearby as the aircraft clamshell door is closed. View of engines being started and the C-124 taxiing out. "Troop Carrier, United States Air Force," written on the aircraft fuselage. The aircraft number shown on nosewheel door is "094." Another C-124 (Number "263") is seen taxiing. Slight out-of -sequence scene shows a fireguard standing with fire bottle beside aircraft "263,"as it starts engine number three, and then walks to engine four, for its start. Next shot is of aircraft "094," with engines running and some last minute item being loaded through the front hatch. French military waving goodbye. One of the C-124s taking off and breaking ground. followed later, by the second. The two U.S. Air Force officers with French Paratroop officer in civilian clothes and a uniformed officer in overseas cap (seen at beginning of film) watch the departing aircraft.
Aerial view looking down at the U.S. Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) underway below, just before America's entry into World War 2. Her deck is filled with aircraft. Camera view from on the flight deck shows it filled with Grumman F4F Wildcat planes. Pilots are scrambling to some of the planes. Two deck crew sit at the wheels of an 4F4 (as if ready to pull chocks). The engine starts and runs. Several F4Fs have engines running and begin to taxi. One is given clearance to take off and commences its roll with considerable wing flap extension (short takeoff technique). The aircraft takes off and banks right as it clears the carrier deck. Next, two F4Fs are seen in flight above some clouds. Next, a large formation is seen, and individual planes bank and dive from it. Back on the carrier deck, more F4Fs have their engines running. A gunner is seen setting his machine gun into the rear cockpit position of a plane, the narrator calls a versatile scout-bomber. Closeup of the aircraft (a Douglas SBD Dauntless) as engine starts, deck crew pull chocks, and the pilot gets clearance to take off. Next, camera shoots from rear cockpit, with the plane's tail in center of the images. Views cover the complete takeoff and flight away from the carrier. Next an SBD is seen in flight with both front and rear cockpits open. A flight of three SBDs in formation. Closeup of two SBDs in formation. Extreme closeup of SBD with pilot and gunner both clearly visible in open cockpits. The gunner is maneuvering his machine gun. Two SBDs demonstrate rapid descents as in dive bombing. Back on the carrier, an SBD, with wings folded, is maneuvered by sailors, on the hangar deck. Next sailors accompany a Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber on an elevator up to the flight deck. With its wings still folded, they maneuver it into position on the flight deck. An armorer, using a dolly, rolls a bomb to a TBD where two others secure it in a bomb rack under the center of the aircraft. Other armorers distribute machine guns and ammunition to gunners in cockpits of aircraft on the deck. Several TBDs begin taking off. View from hangar deck, of one airborne and departing. A formation of 9 TBDs in flight. (Note: This clip was probably shot in November 1941, based on the aircraft markings in use at the time. Life magazine did a series of stills, and these clips look like they came from that photo session. Enterprise wears Measure 1 camouflage, which she wore from mid-1941 to a month or two into 1942. The flying units aboard are all designated "6" the same as their carrier, CV-6. Thus they are VF-6; VB-6; VT-6, etc.)
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