Made during WWII to train ground personnel, this film shows the proper way to prepare cargo for air transport, and how to load a transport aircraft. It also shows the role of the Air Transportation Officer in confirming that aircraft are loaded properly. The planes shown are the Curtiss C-46 Commando, and Douglas C-47 Skytrain and C-53 Skytrooper transports. (A C-53 is simply a DC-3 that was specifically designed for military service. Unlike the C-47 it does not have big cargo doors, a reinforced floor, or beefy landing gear.) The film was made by the Air Transport Command of the U.S. Army Air Forces and is copyright 1943.

Titles: The Army Air Forces presents Loading of Cargo AIrcraft (:08-:28). Map of the world. C-47 comes in for a landing. Meatball type logo that reads: The Air Transport Command U.S. Army Air Forces (:29-1:03). Crew pack and load. Cargo is tied down. An officer looks at the packaging of a product. A man packs a crate. An officer looks at items with a clipboard. He and a man open a crate and look at it (1:04-2:43). Boxes are taken out of a crate and put on a counter. A man starts to package up a machine part. A man packs up a smaller item into a box (2:44-4:03). Fragile instrument is wrapped in felt and then packaged. A man packages a box. Plywood is held by hands. Steel wire is used to reinforce a box (4:04-5:24). Steel tape is used and locked in place. packages ready to be mailed. An officer looks at a crate and it is properly labeled. Piles of boxes and crates are looked at. A generator is packed into a wood crate. The crate is put into a plane (5:25-7:07). Freight is sorted according to destination. Cargo is moved onto a trailer. Planes on the tarmac. Trailer is backed up to a plane. Air transport command plane loader is moving. It pulls a crate (7:08-9:05). A forklift puts a crate into an open airplane door. Forklift picks up an airplane engine. The engine is lifted and placed into a plane. A giant crate is put into a plane (9:06-11:04). An officer looks through a manual along with some men putting a crate into a plane. The crate is placed into a C-47 plane, the proper plane for that item. A jeep is driven up a ramp into a plane. Crates are placed into a plane (11:05-12:45). Loading chart is looked at in the plane. A crate is inside of a plane. Weight of a crate is explained and discussed as to weight limits on certain planes. A hand writes numbers on a pad. A crate is moved by two African American men (12:46-14:45). A hand writes numbers on a pad. An officer looks at a small crate. A plane falls down onto the runway due to the weight limit. An officer looks at the weight charts in the plane’s specs (14:46-16:39). A giant wheel is tied in to a plane inside the cargo hold. A frayed knot. A plane flies in the sky. An officer looks at the knots tied for cargo (16:40-18:17). A hand holds rope. The officer puts a steel beam inside a plane. Rods are adjusted. Cargo is tied in to the inside of a plane. Hook is fastened, a mechanical tightener (18:18-20:53). Cargo is tied down. Cargo plane flies in the sky. Map of North America. An officer looks over paperwork at a desk. He fills the model of a plane with blocks that represent weights of different shipments (20:54-22:55). The officer writes down the specs of the shipment into a chart. Paperwork is looked at (22:56-24:15). A lower ranked officer salutes the man at the desk and hands him paperwork. A C-46 cargo plane takes off. A train on the rails. Planes in the sky. Spinning globe (24:16-25:41). End credits (25:42-25:49).

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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 and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com