Dating to 1961, this U.S. Navy film celebrates fifty years of naval aviation (:10). It opens with footage of supersonic aircraft (:28) and the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (:42). Footage of the Wright Brothers’ first flight on December 17th, 1903 near Kitty Hawk follows (1:25). Captain Washington Irving Chambers (1:31) was to observe and report on aviation developments of Navy concern. In November of 1910, Eugene Ely flew his Curtiss aircraft (1:41) off the deck of the cruiser USS Birmingham. A photograph follows of another demonstration to land on the USS Pennsylvania (1:51). The Navy was allocated $25K for it’s first land plane and two seaplanes (2:07). One of those seaplanes is seen (2:12) along with Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson whom had been trained by Glen Curtiss (2:12). In 1911, the Navy began training pilots at Annapolis, Maryland (2:23). An early trainee, Alfred A. Cunningham is seen at (2:32). Catapult experiments began in 1912 (2:37). In 1914, Admiral Patrick Bellinger (2:53) flew the first plane to be damaged in combat in Veracruz, Mexico. As WWI broke out (3:06), Navy aviation put it’s new developments to the test. The war effort produced nearly 3,000 aircrafts from Curtiss, Martin, Boeing and others (3:11). A German U-boat (3:26). Lt. Kenneth Whiting was a part of the first U.S. group to reach Europe (3:32). Aircraft take off for anti-submarine patrols to raid submarine pens in the North Sea (3:43). The Davis recoilless rifle (3:49). Commander John Towers (4:12) sent three NC patrol planes in May of 1919 from New York to Portugal for a trans-Atlantic flight (4:16). Only one of the NC patrol planes made it all the way and was piloted by Commander Albert Reid (4:40). Rear Admiral William Moffett (5:02) was the first Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. Warships rigged to launch aircraft (5:13). Catapult systems enabled cruisers and battleships to carry scout planes (5:34). As they expanded towards aircraft carriers, ground tests were conducted to stop planes as they landed (6:07). Arresting gear was installed on the first Navy carrier, USS Langley, in 1922 (6:20). Lt. Godfrey Chevalier made the Navy’s first carrier landing (6:26) in a Vought VE-7 (6:35). The Helldiver follows (8:01). The Washington Naval conference took place in DC from 1921 to 1922 (8:48). The Secretary of Navy, Charles Evans Hughes demonstrates take offs and landings on a scale model (8:56). The USS Saratoga and USS Lexington are built (9:01). Commander John Rogers, along with his crew, in 1925 left San Francisco for Hawaii (9:37). They flew the PN-9 flying boat and set a distance record of 1,800 miles (9:49). After being forced to land at sea, the men fashioned a sail from one of the plane’s wings (10:05) and sailed the remaining 450 miles to Hawaii. The Norden bombsight became the standard sight to be used for horizontal bombers (10:37). Retractable landing gear was installed (10:52) and monoplanes replaced biplanes (11:04). As Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 (11:40) all the aircraft carriers were at sea. Raids against Japanese possessions (12:24). In May of 1942, U.S. forces halted the Japanese in the Coral Sea (12:34). Battle of Midway in June of 1942 follows (12:52). The Navy is seen in combat with German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic (13:09). Search planes sought U-boats in the Caribbean (13:57). Blimps were used as convoy escorts (14:10). Escort carriers joined the fleet in 1943 (14:21). The Grumman F6F Hellcat is shown (15:07) as well as the Grumman TBF Avenger (15:16). 400 planes were struck down during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944 (16:38). Japanese Kamikazes attack the fleet (17:11). Nuclear weapons were introduced at the end of the war in 1945 (18:11). The U.S. Army Air Force B-29 Superfortress (18:33) is shown. Post WWII era, the P2V Neptune (19:48) made a record breaking non stop 11,000-mile flight from Australia to Columbus, Ohio. The first Navy jet planes are readied for use on carriers including the McDonnell F2H Banshee (20:31) and the Grumman F9F Panther (20:36). The USS Forrestal is seen being christened (22:19). The Vought F-8 Crusader (26:13) and the McDonnell Douglas F4H Phantom (26:13) had Sidewinder and Sparrow 3 missiles installed in them. The Douglas A4 Skyhawk (26:38) is seen. The USS Enterprise, the largest ship in the fleet as well as the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier (27:16), is shown. Produced by Naval Photographic Center (27:35).

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