In this episode of Air Force Now, the Air Force’s monthly news film produced during the 1980s, viewers see the work being done by the 307th Civil Engineering Squadron, a recruiting clip for being stationed in Europe, and the “Portrait in Blue” featuring Lt. Col. Clyde East. The first segment of the episode, “Patriot Horse,” shows the 307th Civil Engineering Squadron at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas during a training operation. Members of the unit back trucks up into transport planes, including a Lockheed C-130 Hercules and a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Footage shows the planes taking off. Viewers see men working in a makeshift medical tent. Engineers operate heavy machinery to build an airstrip. Col. Bill Myers speaks to the camera about the training operation (02:53). Smoke signals billow and men participate in a war skills simulation. The film shows several men as they pave the perimeter road at Bergstrom AFB (03:40). Maj. Don Savage of the unit’s Demolition Team speaks to the camera about the unit’s use of high explosives (03:58). Men cut blocks of C-4 and pack the explosives into a concrete wall; they then detonate the structure. The next segment of the episode showcases assignments in Europe. Viewers see Britain’s Parliament and the River Thames and English castles (04:50). A member of the Air Force speaks about being stationed near Dover. The film shows castles and landscapes in Germany (05:58); people dine at outdoor tables surrounding a city square. There is footage from the POV inside a vehicle as a man drives through the streets of a small German town (07:24). Pilots sit in the cockpit of a transport plane as they fly supplies into West Berlin. Viewers see the iconic red double-decker buses in London (08:46), and the segment closes with more shots of British and German towns. The episode’s final segment highlights the work of reconnaissance ace Lt. Col. Clyde East (09:55). East flies a reconnaissance version of a P-51 Mustang (10:24); viewers see a plane shoot down a Nazi airplane. Lockheed RF-80 Shooting Stars fly through the sky during the Korean War. RF-80s refuel in flight. Viewers also see a McDonnell RF-101 Voodoo taking off from a runway at what is presumably Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina (12:04). Air Force men examine reconnaissance photographs during the Cuban Missile Crisis (12:50). Pilots sit in a briefing room to discuss a possible mission to Cuba. The film shows Homestead Air Force Base in Florida (13:38), where President John F. Kennedy visits the men on the airstrip and observes the planes.

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