This military public announcement color film is about the dangers to military aircraft by the Albatross / Goonie bird population on the Hawaiian Midway Atoll. It dates to the late 1950s, as 1957 numbers are given. The film was part of a campaign by the U.S. military to be allowed to curb bird populations so that Midway would remain a viable landing area for aircraft. However eventually the island was abandoned by the military and reverted to an island strictly for the birds — and today it is a wildlife sanctuary. You can read more about the birds of Midway here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/wildlife_and_habitat/Birds_of_Midway.html

The film opens in the cockpit of a Lockheed Constellation radar plane as the two pilots discuss the dangers of the very large albatross, also known as gooney birds, hitting windshields and creating hydraulic leaks in military planes upon take-off and landing in the Pacific Barrier area, including to a Super Constellation transport plane with 70 crew aboard (:09-4:30). The announcer interviews another crew member who was on a plane that had a bird enter the carburetor air scoop, completing killing the engine on a four-engine plane. (4:31-6:00). The white sand coastline of an island 50 miles away is shown, which is covered in dense shrubs of nepeta and so the birds won’t nest these (6:00-6:15). The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics plans to clear this island to encourage nests there (6:16-7:00). Many aerial shots of Lisyansky Island is shown (7:01-8:07). The 1957 population there was 95,000 Laysan albatrosses and 7,000 Blackfooted albatrosses. More albatross birds are shown walking at Sand Island (8:08-8:15). They cover the lawns of the military base, undisturbed by the traffic, planes, and people (8:16-8:55). Repairs from bird strikes are made on a Constellation (8:56-9:10). Albatross birds are shown in flight (9:11-10:15). The Barbers Point Naval Air Station on Oahu is shown (10:16-10:21). Rear Admiral Benjamin E. Moore is interviewed in his office, showing graphs and charts of the albatross bird nesting issue and the associates cost of bird strikes, damage, the material cost, wages to repair, and costs of aborted flights that must jettison fuel (10:22-16:09). He then shows actual photos of damage caused by these birds due to their wingspan of up to 12 feet before sitting back at his desk to finish his mandate to find a way to remove the birds (16:10-20:27). {Ironically, these birds still pose a threat to military aircraft there. The issue is an albatross instinctively returns to its place of birth to lay eggs, regardless of where the adult bird is moved. The only answer is to physically relocate eggs to another island. There are modern programs in place that are attempting to establish colonies on other local islands to change the homing patterns for nesting.}

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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