This black & white educational film is about the history of naval aviation. Copyright 1954.

Planes in the sky; the Wright Brothers; Wilbur and Orville Wright spent four years of research and development to create the first successful powered airplane, the 1903 Wright Flyer. It first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, with Orville at the controls (:06). Captain Washington Irving Chambers, a United States Navy officer who played a major role in the early development of naval aviation, serving as the first officer to have oversight of the Navy’s aviation program (:53). November 1910 – Eugene Ealy flies his Curtis plane off the deck of the Cruiser Birmingham (1:04). A few months later – Ealy lands his Curtis plane on the Cruiser Pennsylvania (1:14). Lt. T.G. Ellison (1:38). First aviation training camp In Annapolis, MD in 1911 (1:42). Seaplane (2:08). World War I planes being built (2:29). Naval aviation unit (2:55). Commander John Towers, a highly decorated United States Navy four-star Admiral and pioneer naval aviator. He made important contributions to the technical and organizational development of naval aviation from its beginnings (3:35). May 1919 – three NC planes try to fly a transatlantic flight to Newfoundland, only one makes it; newspaper headlines (3:39). Albert Cushing Read, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. He and his crew made the first transatlantic flight in the NC-4, a Curtiss NC flying boat (4:02). 1920s – rapid development for planes and aviation (4:15). William Moffett, an American admiral and Medal of Honor recipient known as the architect of naval aviation in the United States Navy (4:26). Aircraft takes off (4:37). Catapult takeoffs tested from Navy ships (4:47). Tests on land (5:30). U.S.S. Langley (5:48). Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Chevalier made the first carrier landing (5:40). Bi-planes have mishaps trying to land (6:16). Planes take off (6:45). Martin Torpedo Bomber (7:20). Planes in the sky (7:54). Bi-planes take off into the sky (8:17). Planes bomb a ship (8:36). Gunnery practice on land (8:48). School trains men in aircraft maintenance (9:00). 1920s – Navy Lieutenant Al Williams set speed records (9:07). Schneider Trophy Race for sea planes (9:31). Washington, D.C., U.S. Capitol building (9:48). New carriers – Saratoga and Lexington (10:11). U.S. Navy air ships – blimps (10:46). Plane flies and attaches itself to the blimp (11:32). 1925 – Commander John Rogers (12:03). PN-9 flying boat (12:15). Plane lands awkwardly on a Carrier (13:14). Bi-plane gives way to mono plane (13:24). Long range flying boat, dive bombers, torpedo plane (13:38). Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941 (14:06). All U.S. Carriers were at sea on that day and thus in perfect condition (14:23). U.S. Wildcat planes in the sky (14:45). WW2 battle (15:00). U.S. Navy Pre-flight school, Chapel Hill, NC – students train and take classes (15:34). Fighting against the German U-boats (16:27). Planes search for the German boats underwater (17:03). F6F Hellcats (17:53). In the Pacific during WW2 (18:07). Hellcats and Corsairs; Avenger Torpedo bomber (18:22). Radar (18:50). WW2 battles; planes fire down (19:00). America shoots down 400 planes aka the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot (19:54). The Coral Sea, Midway, Soloman Islands, Marshall, Islands, Marianas Islands, Philippines, and Okinawa were all dominated by U.S. Naval plane superiority (20:36). Japan surrenders (21:00). Plane comes in for a landing on a carrier (21:28). Naval reservists train (21:48). 1946 – Antarctic Ocean, a Martin PBM Mariner plane

(22:19). P-2V patrol plane (22:34). Map shows the flight path of the P-2V from Perth Australia to Columbus, OH (22:43). Helicopters (23:13). Launching of a captured German rocket (23:22). High speed sky rocket (23:35). Beginning of the Korean War; POV aerial war footage (23:56). Carrier based bombers (25:08). The Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio built the M-class blimp for the US Navy as the follow-on to the K-class anti-submarine warfare blimp used during World War II. It was a significantly larger airship, 50% larger than its predecessor (25:39). Angled flight deck of the new Forrestal class of carriers (26:00). POV aerial shot of approaching and landing on a U.S. carrier (26:45). F4U Navy Corsairs (27:00). End credits (27:15).