Made by the Burton Holmes organization, this black & white educational U.S. Navy Training Film is one of a series made to train lookouts. This one is about the physiology of the eye, and how to properly scan the sea for enemy ships and aircraft. Circa 1944.
Opening: U.S. Navy Training Film – Training Lookouts Part 5 – Scanning (:06-:24). A sailor takes off his binoculars and gives them to the next sailor who takes over the watch. The sailor scans the sea and sees a ship in the distance. The untrained sailor does the job wrong by sweeping quickly across the horizon and not step by step across sectors at intervals (:25-1:57). Close on eyes. Eyes normally shift from part to part. A model of the human eye. The eyeball model is opened and explained in pieces. A diagram explains the retina. A sailor uses binoculars as he scans (1:58-3:52). Image on retina allows brain to comprehend it. A demonstration of the step by step pattern as seen through binoculars. The binoculars picks up a ship in the distance. How to go step by step is shown and explained (3:53-5:40). Two sailors look up and out on a ship. A lookout uses the step by step method in a vertical direction. How to properly cover the entire area using the vertical step by step is shown with degrees of a circle. The tight pattern is shown, all areas are covered. The lookout uses binoculars. A ship is seen in the distance (5:41-7:43). A lookout sits and uses binoculars. Binoculars on an alidade are used. Two planes are seen in the distance. Multiple planes are picked up. A single plane as seen through binoculars in the distance is difficult to see. Planes fly in the distance against dark clouds (7:44-9:15). A plane against a blue sky. A surface lookout on the ship scans the horizon, sees a ship in the distance. The man with the binoculars slowly turns and pauses. Alidade moving dial is used (9:16-10:51). An alidade or a turning board is a device that allows one to sight a distant object and use the line of sight to perform a task. This task can be, for example, to draw a line on a plane table in the direction of the object or to measure the angle to the object from some reference point. End credits (10:52-10:59).
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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
