This film “Wings to England and Belgium” advertises Pan Am Airline’s service to England and Belgium. The film also introduces the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter, which first flew for Pan Am in 1949. The 377 featured two passenger decks and a pressurized cabin.

Opening: closeup of plane propeller. Pan Am Stratocruiser aircraft on tarmac. Men and woman in coats looking together. A plane taxis at what appears to be LaGuardia Airport (0:32–0:40). A couple enters the “Exhibit Building.” Uniformed tour guide shows model plane (double-decker “Clipper”) to visitors (0:54–1:28). Actual Clipper is shown flying in sky. Scenes of upper / lower decks. A film producer on board holds camera (1:43). Passengers look out windows: aerial shot of English countryside, upon approach (2:09). London from above (2:19): Parliament building, Thames, St. Paul, etc. Visitors at West End Dorchester Hotel (2:38). Sign appears: “City of Westminster: Piccadilly Circus” (3:34). Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain (Eros). A woman sells flowers on sidewalk (3:53). Red busses pass by (4:02). Visitors in front of Swan & Edgar speak with policeman (“London bobbies”), he gives directions, wife summarizes trip itinerary (4:16–4:47). Trafalgar Square, lion foregrounded (4:48). St. Paul’s Cathedral. Fade to Buckingham Palace (5:15). Change of the guard, “square bashing” (stomping feet) (5:31–6:17). Pan down Westminster Abbey exterior / architectural details (6:17–6:39). Houses of Parliament from faraway. Closeup of Tower Bridge (6:49), pan to Tower of London from afar, then zoom. Over closer views of the architecture, narrator names those who died here: Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh. Traitor’s Gate (7:10). A Yeoman Warder (7:26). Dungeon / prison cell shown from within (haunted? “’They come at night, they do’”). Names engraved on Tower wall (8:56). Bedroom where Princes in the Tower supposedly smothered (9:13). St. James Park (9:32), small crowd gathers with dog. “Many-sided Hyde Park” (9:55), crowded forum near Marble Arch (“Conscience Party,” 10:10). Producer Irving Hartley films from atop truck (10:30). “Trooping the colors” ceremony (King’s birthday) procession (10:42). King George in carriage, Princess Elizabeth on horseback next to carriage.Visitors board boat (11:30). Views: Big Ben / Westminster / Parliament from River Thames (12:10). Pedestrians enter Hampton Court gates (12:28). Panning shot of court clock (13:00), Henry VIII mentioned. Gates of Windsor, King Arthur and roundtable mentioned. Men in formalwear (“sons of gentleman”) on Eaton campus (13:14). Paddleboat in Cherwell River, Oxford (13:37). A student speaks with visitors (14:09). Couple exiting small inn, entering old-fashioned “MG” car (12:21). Pan down on Devil’s Passage (14:43). New College. Many bikes in town (15:38). The couple cycling various country roads with landscape views. They pass sign for “Great Tew: St. Michael Church” (“the most beautiful village in the world,” 16:35). Pass by cottages on the green (16:31–12:70). Tourists take picture with old-fashioned torture device on the green. (17:36). Stratford on Avon Shakespeare’ house, buildings, Anne Hathaway’s large cottage / garden, Holy Trinity Church (18:45), Memorial Theater. Panning shots of London (18:56). Visitors enter Piccadilly Pan Am office (19:06). Luxembourg scenes (19:41): city, buildings, rivers, bridges, smokestacks, hillside castle (20:20). Man walks to Castle of Vianden (20:30). Town at street-level (12:05). Brussels from above, park visible (21:13), Town Hall / Hotel De Ville Tower (gothic architecture). Ancient Guild Houses. Man sand painting portrait of Jesus (22:17–22:53). Ariel view of Bruges / Belfry Bell Tower (“Bruge La Morte”) (22:56). Camera on a boat in park (23:17). Many shots of Venice-like canals while narrator explains local economic history. Elderly female Bruge lace-maker (25:41). Procession of Holy Blood (26:29–29;30): costumes, crowds, horses, Adam and Eve, Old and New Testament scenes, church bells, singing, worship, model sailboat, Hosanna, palm fronds, monk carrying cross (Christ, penance; he faints), history of Crusades / Count of Flanders (29:01), Shrine of the Holy Blood with bishops. Crowds outside Chapel of Holy Blood (29:30). Finally (29:40) discussion at Pan Am London office of flights from Belgium to England, with European flight route map visible. Clipper plane flies at sunset.

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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com