This 1944 black and white film, “Chet Lang Reports,” was to persuade internal GE sales reps that the company was dedicated to the war effort. The film begins with Lang, GE Sales Manager and Chairman of the Wartime Committee. A clip of a letter includes that GE “single handedly saved the country” in WWII (2:08-2:45). An illustration shows the progression of 1940s sales growth to taxes and profits (4:25-5:34). YALE electric forklifts load pallets into train cars (5:49-5:56). A variety of scientific research instruments are quickly shown (6:08-6:35). An illustration of a hand grenade on a medical operating table is shown (6:36-6:43). Hand grenades are tested by soldiers, and women operate a specialized x-ray to analyze weapons (6:44-7:33). A WWII GE bazooka, GE smoke generator, and GE aircraft magneto are briefly shown (7:34-7:48). A scientist works in a 1940s GE research lab, engineers review schematics, and a workman examines equipment (7:49-8:04). A Navy Officer gives a speech (8:22-8:33). A construction crew builds a new GE manufacturing center (10:00-10:11). Briefly shown are WWII machinery for producing weapons, planes, and navy equipment, and clips of Navy ships, tanks, planes, and chemical processing plans (10:53-11:29). Bombs drop, cannons fire, and ships take hits (12:37-12:54). A variety of AC and DC shock-proof controls are built (13:12-13:47). WWII destroyers, gear turbines powering a ship, and the Alcoa Polaris C1-type cargo ship leaves its shipyard (15:46-16:16). Photos show WWI GE construction of new military production plants (17:15-17:46), producing electric ships (17:47-18:18). WWII planes fall out of formation, the USS Brennan is briefly shown, and a Navy ship sinks (18:19-18:56). A Republic P-47 Thunderbolt flies up-close. Its complex controls and GE multi-purpose lever is pictured (19:33-20:27). A WWII military magazine shows pictures of ships (21:35-21:54). Live 1944 footage shows the LST-517 offloading a French 2nd Armored Division Sherman tank (22:23-22:30). Men and women work in a plant producing GE motors (22:31-22:53). 1943 footage shows USS The Sullivans unloading soldiers (22:54-23:10). A pilot puts on a WWII flying suit, a plan designer works at a drawing board, men and women wire parts, and the camera pans over DC fractionals, and a B29 prepares to take off (25:43-26:34). Researchers develop the first remote-control gun turrets (26:35-26:47). Shown are General Henry H. Arnold speaking, a manual GE turret, remote-controlled turret development, and a B29 takes off (26:45-27:33). A B29, B61, and A26 planes are shown (27:52-27:58). Men and women manufacture aircraft instruments, electronic components, gauges, and superchargers. A GE military radio is used, and women build radios (28:53-30:02). Wire and cable is manufactured automatically at high speeds (30:09-30:20). Turbine manufacturing facilities are shown operating from above (30:21-30:49). The USS Hoppin launches (30:50-31:08). Workmen assemble large pieces, and gun directors are constructed (31:09-31:45). Shown are submarine electric drives, 60” searchlights, a 40mm anti-aircraft gun, switch gears and main control boards, 75mm Howitzers, and 35-ton GE reduction gears (31:46-32:47). A vintage recorder plays back a clip of WWII Navy Secretary Frank Knox congratulating GE for its contributions to the war effort (33:10-33:35).

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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