This highly-unusual promotional film for the F-16 made by General Dynamics consists mainly of interviews with 20th Century fighter-pilot aces, who recall the performance of their planes and of enemy aircraft. Aces interviewed include W.C. Bill Lambert from World War 1 (footage of Manfred Baron von Richthofen is also in this segment), the second-ranking American ace of World War I. Lambert claimed 18 air-to-air victories, eight fewer than “Ace of Aces” Eddie Rickenbacker, and won the DFC. Also interviewed is the Luftwaffe’s Adolf Galland who flew in the Spanish Civil War and World War 2; the Royal Air Force’s Douglas Bade and Robert Stanford-Tuck, Norway’s Sven Heglund, American David Lee “Tex” Hill, the WWII Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann; U.S. Air Force pilot Francis Gabreski from World War 2 and the Korean War; USAF pilot Ralph Parr from the Korean War; and Steve Ritchie, the only ace from the Vietnam War. Planes discussed by the aces and shown in action include the SE5, FW-190, Spitfire, ME-109, ME-110, Hurricane, P-40, Zero, P-47, P-51, ME-262, F-86, MIG-15, and F-16. At the end of the film, the F-16 is said to display the characteristics the aces say they want in a fighter plane. The film dates to 1983.

Opening: various planes from different eras (:10). An F-16 Fighting Falcon (:42). F-16 in the sky; pilot in the cockpit (1:20). Title: Out of the Sun (1:42). Pictures of different fighter pilots from various eras of history (1:47). Dogfights (2:06). World War 1 Ace Fighter pilots (2:18). W.C. Bill Lambert, ace from WWI (2:44). S.E. 5 British bi-planes (3:00). S.E. 5 planes in the sky (3:12). W.C. Bill Lambert speaks (3:21). Planes from the WWI era: Sopwith Camel, French Nieuport, French SPAD, German Fokker D.VII, German Fokker Triplane, German Albatros (3:38). Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, most famously known as the “Red Baron”, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war (3:58). German Hermann Goering (4:24). 1936 Spain Civil War; Germany’s Condor Legion assisted (4:46) on the side of Franco and the fascists. Adolf Galland, a West German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defencse of the Reich (5:07). Russian I-16 and German ME-109 planes (6:02). Mid 1930s, Adolf Hitler wanted a giant air force (6:21). Douglas Bader, RAF pilot (7:03). Robert Stanford Tuck, RAF pilot (7:44). Pilots enter British Spitfires; Spitfires in the sky (8:05). Norway’s leading Ace, Svein Heglund who flew for the RAF (9:00). Germany’s ME-109 in the sky (10:06). German ME-110 proved to be a mistake (10:48). The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft (11:28). Douglas Bader, RAF pilot speaks (11:33). Dogfight (12:35). Japanese Zero planes (12:48). David Lee “Tex” Hill was an American fighter pilot and triple flying ace. He is credited with ​12 ¹⁄₄ victories as a squadron leader with the Flying Tigers in China and another six as an officer in the US Army Air Corps in WWII (13:06). Japanese Zeroes being shot out of the sky (14:00). Erich Alfred Hartmann, a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare (14:26). Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang American planes (16:08). P-51 planes in formation(16:42). Aerial combat (17:00). Francis “Gabby” Gabreski, a Polish-American career pilot in the US Air Force, speaks (17:34). P-47 planes (18:37). Americans blow German planes out of the sky (19:20). Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe in fighter versions, or Sturmvogel in fighter-bomber versions, was the world’s first operational jet fighter aircraft (19:44). Adolf Galland speaks (20:05). Germany surrenders and WWII in Europe comes to an end (22:04). Korean War in 1950 (22:47). United States P-80 and F-86 planes tangle with Soviet MIGs (22:58). Ralph Parr, American double ace (23:16). Korean War dogfight (24:45). Francis “Gabby” Gabreski speaks (25:06). Korean War dogfight (25:50). Stephen Ritchie, American flying ace who flew an F-4 during the Vietnam War, speaks (26:26). Pilots fight over the skies of southeast Asia (27:26). Some pilots featured earlier speak: David Lee “Tex” Hill, Erich Alfred Hartmann, Robert Stanford Tuck, Francis “Gabby” Gabreski, Adolf Galland, Douglas Bader, Ralph Parr, Stephen Ritchie, Svein Heglund (27:44). F-16 plane in the sky (30:02). End credits (30:54).

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 www.periscopefilm.com