One of a series of films prepared to train pilots, airplane spotters and anti-aircraft gun crews, this Aircraft Identification film is an official War Department Training Film (:07) produced by The Signal Corps in collaboration with the Cheif of Air Corps (:13). The film was intended to provide familiarity with aircraft types so as to avoid friendly fire incidents, and combines animation with shots of models and sometimes real footage of aircraft. The final film in the reel was made by the Walt Disney Company during the war, identifying the PBY Catalina.
The film identifies a few varying aircraft types beginning with the Bristol Beaufighter (:32). This craft is a British night fighter and long range pursuit plane (:41). It was designed to take place of all purpose planes such as the Bristol Blenheim (:34), which was supplemented by the Beaufighter and Beaufort torpedo carrying bomber. All three, though varying types had similar wing and tail shape (1:10). From the head on view shows a mid wing monoplane with twin radial engines and the fuselage takes on a pear shaped look (1:41). The short nose is distinctive and it’s engines are set low in relation to cockpit (2:01). The Beaufighter is shown above the German version and low flying dive bomber, Junkers Ju 88 (2:19). The differences included the thicker nose and larger tail of the Beaufighter (2:52), and the different fuselage’s of each (3:26). The pilot of the British craft would sit above and on line with the engines. The American Douglas A-20 is pictured above the Beaufort,Beaufighter and Ju 88 (3:58). Another method of identification of the Beaufighter is the shape of its vertical fin (5:44). The next aircraft to be identified is the Whitley Bomber (6:33), which was a large twin engined monoplane and was used for reconnaissance. From the bottom view, the rounded rectangular tail surface and projecting rear turret are visible (7:48). In flight it appeared to be constantly nosing down (7:55). In comparison to the American B-25, the Whitley was much larger and had only two engines (8:25). The Whitley also included a rectangular tail and longer fuselage (8:51). The next segment will focus on the identification of the PBY Catalina using the WEFT system (11:05). This was a long range flying boat used for overseas scouting and bombing (11:18). The wing is connected to the long shallow hull by a streamline center tower (11:58). The wings included two bumps and these are floats that can retract into the tips of the wings (12:20). Two radial engines are set close together (13:28). Along the topside resided two distinctive gun blisters (15:07). The craft’s tail included a horizontal surface high on the vertical surface (15:44). As the film draws to conclusion, there is a brief synopsis of the distinctive identifying features of the craft using the WEFT system again (16:59).
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