United Aircraft Corporation Collection. 1953 - 1953. Motion Picture Film. 1953 - 1953. WE SAW IT HAPPEN

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United Aircraft Corporation Collection. 1953 - 1953. Motion Picture Film. 1953 - 1953. WE SAW IT HAPPEN

1953

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/100477

This film examines the history of aviation, from 1903-1953. For a scene-by-scene listing, please refer to the shot list. Part 1 covers the period 1900-1910. Reel 1 shows the home of Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio; the Wright Museum in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan; the first glider flights (1902) and airplane flights (1903) in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; and experimental European airplanes. Still pictures show the Wright brothers in their youth. Subsequent scenes show a bicycle shopworker as he told how he made the Wright's first engine. The Wright's demonstrated an airplane over Fort Myer, Virginia. Lieutenant Law tells how he helped interest Army officials in the plane and how he first flew. Another officer tells how he flew from Alexandria to Fort Myer with Orville Wright in 1909. Reel 2 shows the early Martin and Curtis planes, French pilots in their early planes, the Wrights as they took off from Fort Myer in 1908, and experimental planes, including one with flapping wings, that couldn't fly. Lt. Law tells how he became the first Army pilot. Igor Sikorsky flew the first plane in Russia, posed with his first helicopter, and discussed pioneer aviation. Glenn Martin and Donald Douglas related their early experiences in the industry. The first professional aeronautical engineer discussed aviation education. Part 2 covers the period 1910-1917. Reel 3 shows the first automatic pilot apparatus, early Martin planes, and aerial views of College Park, Maryland. Also shown are 1911 Army maneuvers, the funeral of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand, various World War I battle scenes, French and German WW I planes, and WW I trucks and automobiles. Donald Douglas, Alan Lockheed and others pose. Still pictures show General Henry Arnold circa 1911. The first Navy pilot discussed the 1911 beginnings of naval aviation, and Glenn Curtis posed and took off in an early seaplane. Igor Sikorsky discussed his, and the world's, first four-engine plane and still pictures show it. Reel 4 shows a German submarine torpedoing a U.S. ship, a WW I aircraft factory, LaFayette Escadrille units, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in his WW I plane, WW I Navy airships, and planes as they took off from the first British aircraft carrier and from the first U.S. carrier Langley. A pioneer engine expert discussed early plane engines. Captain Rickenbacker discussed his WW I experiences. Admiral Bertram Ramsay discussed early Navy aviation. Part 3 covers the period 1918-1926. Reel 5 shows WW I material as it was transported, a Liberty engine being tested, Allied and German planes as they engaged in dogfights, U.S. soldiers marching in a victory parade, stunt pilots performing at a fair, a couple doing the Charleston, Babe Ruth circling the bases, Jack Dempsey training, Red Grange playing football, Army Mail Service planes in flight, and General Billy Mitchell. Admiral Powers discussed his, and the world's, first transatlantic flight in the NC-4. A veteran of the Army Mail Service discusses his experiences. Glenn Martin discusses General Mitchell's aerial sinking of a captured German battleship. Admiral Ramsay discusses the aircraft carriers Langley, Saratoga, and Lexington. Reel 6 shows the manufacture of planes in the 1920s, planes dropping bombs, and planes taking off from carriers. A pilot discusses increased aircraft speeds and flashbacks show the planes that set the records. General Jimmy Doolittle discusses his record flight of 1925, other record flights, and aircraft improvements. Dutch Kindelberger discusses the beginning of the Douglas Aircraft Company, and technical improvements made to planes by Lawrence Sperry and other inventors. Aircraft engineer Augustus Herring discusses carburetors. and Horace Mansfield "Jack" Horner discusses aviation in the 1920s. Part 4 covers the period 1927-1939. Reel 7 shows Charles Lindbergh taking off on his flight to Paris and being mobbed by crowds. Subsequent scenes show Clarence Chamberlain and Charles Levin posing before their 1927 transatlantic flight to Germany, Army planes, and a plane taking off from a carrier. Pioneer aircraft engineers discuss the development of radial air-cooled engines and super-chargers, and flashbacks show the manufacture of these items. General Doolittle and others discuss early U.S. and transoceanic commercial airliner flights. General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz discusses a 1929 record with General Kenneth Walker. Flashbacks show the first air-to-air refueling operations. General Walker discusses early instrument flying and Generals Doolittle and Walker discuss their, and the world's, first blind instrument lights. Reel 8 shows the manufacture of airplanes in the 1930s, a national air race, Jacqueline Cochran deplaning, mass lights of German airplanes, and Adolf Hitler addressing a Nazi rally. We next see German Army units on parade; Benito Mussolini, Neville Chamberlain , Eduoard Daladier , and Hitler at the Munich Conference; the Maginot Line; German bombs dropping on a Polish city; and German troops and Hitler marching through Paris. Subsequent scenes show Britishers sitting in a bomb shelter as German airplanes bomb London, Leroy Grumman discusses the U.S. aircraft industry in the 1930s and the first planes with retractable landing gear and flashbacks. Igor Sikorsky discusses his first workable helicopter and flashbacks show it in operation. Part 5 covers the period 1940-1947. Reel 9, U.S. Army units go through maneuvers using dummy equipment, circa 1940. German troops advance in Norway and Russia. German airborne troops drop on Greece. Hitler poses with Mussolini and a Japanese diplomat. Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor. General Doolittle poses near his planes aboard the carrier Hornet. A Navy captain discusses the aerial battles of Coral Sea and Midway and flashbacks show scenes of them. General Spaatz discusses the WW Il bombing of Germany. Reel 10 shows various WW II battlefront and factory scenes, commercial airliners, V-1 bombs and V-2 missiles, German jet planes, and Russian troops marching in review as Josef Stalin and Marshall Zhukov and others look on. A spokesman discusses aviation's part in the WW II effort and Robert Green discusses commercial aviation. Part 6 covers the period 1948-1953. Reel 11 includes views of the Berlin airlift and Korean war in which helicopters are used to remove the wounded . Dutch Kindelberger and others discuss aircraft production, jet performance, and the thermo-dynamic barrier. Test pilots Tex Johnson, Chuck Yeager, and others discuss their flights.

eng, Latn

National Archives at College Park

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6406158

National Archives at College Park

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