Dating to the immediate post-WWII period, this U.S. Navy cartoon “Collisions Occurring During Simulated Combat” was likely made by the UPA Studio. The cartoon features three fatal incidents in which naval aviators broke the rules and ended up in mid-air collisions. The stories are contrasted against three tactical tales of romance involving various aviators and a certain attractive young woman. The first incident shown involves a training flight in which two pilots make an unplanned, unauthorized simulated attack on a PB4Y Privateer. The wingmen lose track of each other and are killed when their planes collide. At 2:30, a group of Bearcats are shown in mock fighter director flight, and one pilot makes a fatal positioning mistake resulting in a midair collision. At 3:48, two aircraft in mock dogfight end up colliding in mid-air after pressing their attacks too vigorously. The film ends with a review of established Navy doctrine against unauthorized simulated combat.

This cartoon draws from the contemporaneous work of Lt. Robert Osborn, who created a character known as Grampaw Pettibone in 1943 to enliven Navy safety tips for a Bureau of Aeronautics newsletter. Osborn was also the creator of more than 2,000 “Dilbert the Pilot” and “Spoiler the Mechanic” posters, which delivered helpful reminders to US pilots of WWII.

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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