Produced in 1942 by the War Department as part of the WWII war effort, this training film (T.F. 1-323) is titled “Airplane Structures, Manufacturing Methods.” It depicts the complete construction process of P-39D Airacobra airplanes for the U.S. Army Air Forces. The factory shown is likely the Bell plant at Wheatfield, New York.
00:06 Aerial: factory. 00:09 Scaffolding skeleton of factory under construction. 00:14 Aerial: factory. 00:21 Crowd of workers outside factory. 00:26 William L. Newton (?) speaks at podium with WBEN radio — Buffalo, New York — microphones. 00:32 Mostly male crowd listens. 00:45 Steam whistle. 00:47 Men stream into factory. 00:58 Men clock in. 01:00 Production floor of factory. 01:20 Designers sketch aircraft designs on drafting tables 01:33 Full scale plane outlined. 01:39 Man measures plane outline. 01:48 Man hammers template. 01:51 Measurement check. 02:03 Montage: wood mockup 02:21 Montage: Operators slice metal sheet in shearing machine. 03:00 Montage: Man drills pilot holes into sheet. 03:27 Man places wood model against metal sheet. 03:53 Hand traces the outline of the wood form block on metal sheet. 04:03 Saw metal using routing tool. 04:21 Montage of “Farnham” automatic rolling machine 04:49 Close up: Circular measurement dial output on machine. 04:57 Two men insert bent metal sheet into automatic press. 05:03 Close up: Automatic press stamps metal. 05:10 Workers clamp metal. 05:25 Men strike the aluminum alloy. 05:43 Metal former manipulates metal sheet in high-speed trip hammer. 05:51 High-speed trip hammer. 06:10 Man compares sheet to wooden mock-up. 06:23 Metalworker 06:39 Steam hammer shapes bulkhead rib. 07:19 Works operate hydraulic press. 07:25 Cushion of rubber sheeting added. 07:30 Press shapes metal. 07:46 Machine shop. 07:51 Montage of machines: Engine lathe, automatic and hand screw machines, external and internal grinders, milling machines, drill presses. 08:10 Machine operator observes machine. 08:15 Piece moves along conveyor into machine. 08:20 Machine carves out material. 08:31 Template guides cutter. 08:52 Worker throws finished parts into tank. 09:22 Workers guide pieces into tank to trigger an anodic process. 09:54 Worker passes pieces through cleansing solution. 10:06 Assembly line workers suspend parts on conveyor. 10:12 Conveyor dips pieces into paint. 10:29 Workers dip large metal sheet in cleansing solution tanks. 10:58 Painter spray-paints sheet. 11:07 Man deposits pieces into treatment machine. 11:19 Man removes pieces and gathers in basket. 11:25 Assembly jig setup. 11:57 Worker drills rivet holes. Cleco sheet holders inserted. 12:19 Man rotates aircraft elevator. 12:29 Man rivets piece. 13:01 Men attach ribs. 13:07 Completed framework. 13:17 Workers fit and pin fabric over frame. 13:37 Seamstresses sew. 13:52 Inspecting elevator. 13:58 Wing panel assembly. 14:07 Rivet holes dimpled into metal. 14:15 Bulkhead prepared for riveting. 14:36 Montage of wing assembly.15:05 Welder works on engine brace. 15:21 Man assembles oleos strut (air-oil hydraulic shock absorber used on the landing gear). 15:33 Workers stuff pilot headrest. 15:42 Shock cord cut and attached 16:09 Seamstresses sew on zipper. 16:17 Fuselage assembly. 16:40 Workers assemble fuselage. 16:52 Worker raise and lower bolted parts using pulley. 17:41 Final inspection of fuselage. 17:54 Fuselage rolled away. 18:02 Pan of assembly stations. 18:13 Worker grabs tool from stock rack in station. 18:25 Production control engineer marks material control chart. 18:34 Pan over assembly stations. 18:52 Worker screws on fuel line. 18:59 37mm cannon mounted in the airplane. 19:21 Cabin mounted. 19:48 Allison v12 engine placed into plane. 20:32 Tail surfaces guided by crane. 20:59 Tail and fuselage attached. 21:04 Pan of stations. 21:25 Propeller guided by dolly. 21:38 Curtis electric propeller aligned. 21:48 Worker screws propeller using hub wrench. 21:59 Plane inside spray booth is painted. 22:18 Wing panels fastened to plane. 22:36 Plane inspection. 22:58 Tensiometer. 23:05 Stick action tested. 23:13 Nose wheel tested. 23:29 Plane marked “U.S. Army P390 CORPS SERIAL no. AC41-7014”. Worker attaches “O.K.” sign. 23:37 Plane leaves factory. 23:44 Plane takes off. 24:06 “End of T.F.1-323”.
The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. It was used most notably by the Soviet Air Force, enabling individual Soviet pilots to collect the highest number of kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
