Eastman Color? Looks like pink fade
This color promotional film is about the U.S. Air Force Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, making a tour of Latin America including Guatemala, Chile, Paraguay and Brazil. This is circa March 1961 to June 1963 when the Thunderbirds were flying the F-100 Super Sabre and led by Col. Ralph “Hoot” Gibson.
Opening: Planes fly in formation. U.S. Air Force presents “Cross Over” (:06-:43). F-100 Super Sabre aircraft perform aerial maneuvers. People have gathered to watch the planes in South America; the initial shots are in Chile. They look up into the sky. The people are awed and are seen clapping, looking skyward. A man poses with a llama or alpaca (1:05). A kid drinks an Orange Fanta (1:44). Planes perform maneuvers. A boy eats ice cream and watches (2;15). Men and boys rush over to shake the hands of the pilots. Pilots sign autographs. A large crowd of people push and shove. Guatemalan marimba band plays for the pilots (3:09). Planes do a trick in the sky. Students on a campus in Chile observe the airmen (4:16). Planes fly by and do a trick. Plane flies upside down and then right side up. Pilot flies an F-105. The planes are in formation. High above the clouds (4:17-5:55). Planes fly above cities and over the Andes mountains. Past snow capped mountain peaks and resting volcanoes. Planes dip low. Thunderbirds in formation fly above people. An officer watches with his wife and children, as do some native peoples in traditional dress, possibly in Peru or Guatemala (5:56-7:09). Thunderbirds do twists and turns. POV cockpit as the plane flies. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sugar Loaf and the famed statue of Christ. Planes fly past a statue and palm trees, boys and girls watch. Thunderbirds fly in formation in Chile. They fly past a Chilean soldier on a horse (7:10-9:41). No end credits.
The Thunderbirds entered the supersonic era with the the F-100C Super Sabre in 1956. This switch was accompanied by a relocation of their headquarters to Nellis AFB, Nevada. An emphasis was placed on low, screaming flyovers and demonstrations of takeoff performance. For a time, if the show’s sponsor permitted it, the pilots would create a sonic boom; this ended when the FAA banned supersonic flight over the continental United States. In 1961, the team was compelled to discontinue the vertical bank maneuver due to an FAA regulation prohibiting aerobatics that pointed the nose of the aircraft toward the crowd. The year 1962 saw the introduction of dual solo routines, and the Thunderbirds went on their first European deployment in 1963, the year after the disbanding of the “Skyblazers” (see below). The team switched to the F-105 Thunderchief for the 1964 season, but were forced to re-equip with the F-100D after only six airshows due to a catastrophic structural failure of the No. 2 aircraft during a pitch-up maneuver that resulted in the death of Capt Gene Devlin at Hamilton Air Force Base on 9 May. The F-100D Super Sabre was retained through the 1968 season.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
