WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 124 [Main Title]

[A Tribute to Allied Air Forces.]

I. 'THIS EDITION OF WAR PICTORIAL NEWS ILLUSTRATES THE SKILL, PERSEVERANCE AND COURAGE WHICH HAVE MADE THE AIR FORCES OF THE UNITED NATIONS THE FINEST IN THE WORLD.' Interior footage shows the design and drawing office of an aircraft manufacturer (footage is most likely to be taken at the De Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. Head Office and Works at Hatfield, Herts). Close up footage shows a design blue-print for a DH 98 Mosquito bomber aircraft (B. Mk IV ?). The commentary outlines Mosquito construction techniques and performance statistics over interior factory views of a Mosquito production line. A male factory worker cuts wood with a circular saw, other colleagues work on Mosquito fuselage sections. A Mosquito monocoque fuselage is lowered by hoist onto a waiting wing assembly. Male factory workers use an inspection pit to test an aircraft's undercarriage lowering mechanism and bomb-release equipment. A Royal Air Force (RAF) Mosquito B Mk IV is rolled out of a hangar prior to a sortie (DZ 416). Aerial footage shows a pair of RAF 105 Squadron Mosquito aircraft in flight (105 being the first squadron to be issued with the Mosquito aircraft in November 1941). Elsewhere, United States Army Air Force (USAAF) gather to watch Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress bombers take off on a sortie (undisclosed location). Aerial footage shows a USAAF B-17F in flight with stock shots showing bombs dropping and impacting on an unidentified target. A USAAF B-17 waist-gunner fires his Browning .50-inch heavy machine gun. A B-17F crew member kisses the ground on his safe return from a mission. Close-up footage shows B-17 battle damage. Boeing B-17 aircraft leave contrails as they fly at high altitude during a sortie. RAF North American Mustang Mk I fighter aircraft make a low-level pass to camera. Camera gun footage shows Allied interdiction attacks on German steam locomotives and a parked Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf 190 fighter aircraft. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) sergeant pilots enter a compression chamber belonging to the Clinical Investigation Section for instruction in the effects of oxygen starvation on the human body. Footage taken inside the compression chamber shows a doctor in an oxygen mask pointing out the symptoms of oxygen starvation as they begin to show on a volunteer who has taken off his oxygen mask, ( symptoms include blue fingers and lips, an increasing inability to write or comprehend accurately and eventual loss of consciousness). RAAF sergeant pilots enjoy a smoke on leaving the compression chamber.

35mm