This 1943 War Department training film (T.F. 1-3403) instructs viewers on how to survive a crash landing in an arctic climate. The film follows an Army Air Forces pilot, Hardy, as he recalls his survival training, which is presented as an internal dialogue between the pilot and his instructor. The film’s second reel begins with Hardy fighting to get a tree out of the snow. He walks back to the plane and cuts out wire from the wing flaps. He takes the parachute and wire back to where his fire is (01:34). He uses the tree pole he wrestled free to make a center pole for a shelter. He uses more poles to create a sloped wall and covers it with spruce branches. The wind and snow begin to pick up as he finishes his shelter (04:05). He collects more tree boughs to pack down onto the floor of the shelter to serve as insulation. Hardy goes to light a cigarette with a match, but then he remembers to conserve his matches. Hardy takes off the nose of the plane and uses the cone as a pot to melt snow (06:06). As he melts snow, he unrolls the parachute to function as his sleeping bag (07:55). At night, he wakes up to the sound of wolves (09:26). Back at the base, the men divide up flight areas for the search (10:32). The film cuts back to the crash site where the plane is blanketed with snow. Hardy lights a smoke fire, mixing green and dry wood and adding oil. He finds a rabbit run and sets a snare with wire from the plane (12:48). Hardy dusts snow off his plane to assist any search. Hardy makes a windbreak for his shelter (15:24). The film shows Hardy drying his boots and socks over the heat of his fire, further insulating his shelter with snow, and making improvised snowshoes (17:06). He snowshoes to his snare, where he finds a rabbit. He eats the stewed meat at his shelter. Hardy uses tree branches to write out a large SOS on the snow (19:32). He hears what appears to be a Martin B-26 Marauder (or a B-17) flying overhead, and he waves at the airplane. The pilots see Hardy and circle back around, airdropping supplies to the stranded pilot (21:36). Hardy does an inventory of the supplies he received, looking through the emergency kit and extra clothing. Hardy cooks dinner inside his improved shelter (24:20). He climbs into a sleeping bag and faces the fire. A plane lands on a snow field, and men unload a dog sled and dogs from the cargo bay (25:42). The dogs pull the sled through forests and deep snow. The two-man rescue team and dogs arrive at the crash site to find Hardy resting in his shelter (27:40). Hardy rides in the sled away from the crash site. The film ends with a shot of a pilot who was in a similar situation and didn’t know what to do; the camera pans out to reveal his amputated legs.

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