AAF REPORT

Duration: 1600

Year Published: 1943

Creator: Office of Strategic Services

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: This film "AAF Report" was created by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1944 and provides an overview of the U.S. Army Air Force's strategy and activities in the Pacific and Europe in 1943. It is an official report submitted by USAAF General Hap Arnold and details the operational structure, geographic extents, and strategies used in combating Japanese and German forces. Note: filmmaker Richard Lyford, who later worked for Walt Disney, was involved in this production. Footage of burning, damaged B-17s in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack (01:03). P-40 Warhawk fighter-bombers (1:39) are seen in what could be a Curtiss-Wright plant. (1:40) Aircraft engines constructed (1:43). Metal cladding installed (1:52), female factory workers mobilized for war efforts. Completed engines, which appear to be the liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.597-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-C15 used in P-40 Warhawks (1:56). Workers insert two .50-inch (13 mm) Browning AN/M2 "light-barrel" dorsal nose-mount synchronized machine guns and two .303-inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns into the planes (2:03). A diagram illustrates the training progression of air recruits (3:37). Six Curtiss P-36 Hawk planes fly in formation (3:45). Combat training footage shows trainees attacking ground (4:06) and ocean (4:14) targets. An officer points at a map while teaching new techniques to trainees (4:18). A P-40 Warhawk plane takes off (4:27) and trainees practice skip bombing, a low-level bombing technique to attack ships (4:32). A dummy enemy tank drives slowly through a field (4:46), a bomb is released (4:52) and the target explodes (4:53). A plane is parked in front of the Aloha Air Transport Command facility in Honolulu (5:22), with men unloading supplies. Scenes of a native, possibly, Pacific Islander population, tend to a field while US troops stock a Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport aircraft (5:33). Multiple Willys MB (1941-45) Jeeps and a horse are loaded into the C-47 (5:38). The C-47 lands in Alaska (5:46) and proceeds to transport ammunition to troops in Guadalcanal (5:52). A map details the locations of fifteen air forces worldwide (6:22), then shows Japanese expansion across Pacific Islands (7:08). Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress plane with a plexiglass bombardier nose (7:16). Footage of the Battle of the Coral Sea (1942) shows warplanes flying over the sea with ships exploded below (7:30). A B-24 Liberator heavy bomber flies over Japanese warships approaching New Guinea (7:48). A Dodge WC Series military truck drives air force members to Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft (7:59). Air forces prepare for confrontation with Japanese forces with an aircraft similar to the North American B-25D Mitchell (8:09). Air forces skip bomb Japanese ships (8:27). A map shows the air force protection over Australian and New Guinea coasts (9:07). Troops board Douglas C-46 Commando aircraft (9:19) then fly over the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (9:23). Wounded troops evacuated (9:43). CBs create air strips (10:01) Hickam Field Air Base in Hawaii(11:26). Map showing flight from Hickam Field to attack Japanese forces at Wake Island and Gilbert Island (11:45). Men install new 75mm cannons (12:26) into B-25G Warplanes at O’Hare Field. B-25G’s (12:45) attacking Japanese in the Marshall Islands(12:47). A map shows an Eighth Air Force base in England (13:32). German industrial centers; production of bombs (13:53). USAAF planes drop bombs on factories in daytime (14:14) while Royal Air Forces (RAF) attack at night. Captured German footage shows rubble and debris in Berlin (14:43). Map of targets attacked between January 27th - October 4th (15:11). Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft prepare for take-off, followed by Lockheed P-38 Lightnings (17:00). Planes patrol English Channel (17:10). Luftwaffe command center receiving news of imminent attack (17:22). German pilots scramble (17:46) Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighter aircraft (17:54). B-17f Flying Fortress attacked (18:38). Narrator discusses future plans to greatly increase attacks in 1944. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) is shown giving a speech (22:20), followed by Hideki Tōjō (1884-1948) (22:23). Compilation footage of industrial workers (22:31), including a female worker (22:42). Destroyed American airplanes and deceased American airmen (23:02). The report ends with a dismissal of any negotiated peace and makes a statement about the total destruction of the enemy (24:00).

Complete Record: National Archives and Records Administration AAF REPORT War Department. Army Air Forces. (06/20/1941 - 09/26/1947) ARC Identifier 2835 / Local Identifier 18-C-111. Documents the world-wide activities of the Army Air Forces. Reel 1 shows various training activities and explains the formation of fighting units. Shows warehouse facilities and airplane repair activities of the Air Service Command. Gen. Arnold introduces the film. Includes scenes of planes burning after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Reel 2 locates headquarters of the U.S. and overseas commands and shows activities of the 5th and 14th Air Forces in the Pacific. A Japanese convoy is bombed and strafed in the Bismarck Sea. The Troop Carrier Command flies men and supplies over the Owen Stanley Range in New Guinea. Reel 3, the 8th Air Force battles German planes and bombs Germany. Captured German films show bomb damage, antiaircraft guns, and fighter pilots preparing to intercept U.S. planes. Reel 4, low-flying bombers of the 12th Air Force attack German positions in Africa. Planes of the 9th Air Force assist in the invasion of Sicily. "Flying Tigers" fight over China before and after joining the 14th Air Force. Shows how supplies for the 14th are carried by ships, barges, trains, trucks, and airplanes (of the 10th Air Force) to and through India and to China. Reel 5, Hong Kong is bombed. Presents statistics relating to U.S. aerial warfare for 1943 and estimates greater quantities for 1944.