Flying with Arthur Godfrey (1953)

[Music] the [Music] hello this is to be a movie about flying one of my very favorite subjects in fact there's nothing I'd rather talk about especially during this 50th anniversary year of powered flight of course I like to talk about radio and television too they've been mighty good to this country boy this is the way I make my living but what makes that living worthwhile is to get out there in the wild blue yonder in a good airplane with the whole universe waiting for you not just because it's a thrill although it's certainly is that but because I like to think that Aviation as far as it has advanced and it certainly has come a long way is still very young oh we've come a long way since the days when my good friend the Ace of Aces Captain Eddie Rickenbacker used to fly around in France in those spads the dean of Aviation just think he's been flying for nearly 40 years why it's only 50 years since the Wright brothers you know they call me one of the oldtimers in aviation but I didn't begin to fly in Earnest until 1929 gosh that's almost 25 years ago now isn't it but you know I've done more flying in the last three years than I did in the first 22 hey let me show you I have been commissioned in the name of Reserve since 1939 but because of an old injury to my legs the Bureau of medicine and surgery wouldn't clear me for military airplane flying until 1950 so it was in 1950 in September that I got my Navy wings at Pensacola the happiest day of my life since that time I have qualified as a carrier pilot as a Jet Pilot as a helicopter pilot and here is the coveted Navy green ticket the highest instrument rating given to Navy Pilots of course I'm very proud of all of these military certificates but here's one here that makes me very very very happy this is the certificate that Captain Eddie Rickenbacker gave me recently making me an honorary captain in Eastern Airlines as I was saying planes have come a long way in the last 50 years here's one very much like the one that the wght brothers used used to make 40 to 50 m an hour but still one or two of these around too it's a funny looking Affair but most of the basic principles we use today were developed in this plane it didn't fly high and it didn't fly far but by golly it [Applause] flew looks kind of like an overgrown box kite does it well you can take it from me it feels like one too when you're up in it you've heard the expression flying but the seat of your pants well this is where it came from sitting in this old bucket seat right here see the right Brothers had no instruments of any kind except a little old oil gauge down here tells you you got some oil pressure back there and this stick column in this wheel is exactly the same as we have in the big airliners of today when I push the stick forward notice that flipper comes down it pushes the tail up and the nose down vice versa this way want to drop the right wing do it this way left wing this way and here are the rudder bars that work the Rudders in the tail you see the principles were the same then as they are today no difference here is a model of a spad the airplane that Captain Eddie Rickenbacker flew in World War I only 10 or 12 years after the Wright Brother's first flight it's a shame that it had to be used as a weapon of Destruction so soon but the war brought that on this is Captain Rickenbacker in the plane he made famous in World War I these old films show The Dashing Young Skipper of the 94th Squadron leading his boys into a dog fight the hat in the ring Insignia was always present when the fighting was thickest the wild blue yonder was really wild in those days when there was just so much wood and canvas between you and the enemy between you and the ground down in flames was the rule rather than the exception they had no protection they had no parachutes yes they paid a high price but it was through Captain Rickenbacker's exploits in World War I that the terrific fighting Power in the airplanes was made known to man this little sped carried a very powerful engine for those days and often flew up to 135 mph straight down there aren't many of of them left but here comes one of those Old-Timers now and look who's flying it it's Captain Eddie the one and only Captain Rickenbacker hey wait a minute I want to get in this scene myself n how's it feel to be at the controls of this old baby again well frankly it brings back a lot of memories Arthur some good some not so good but maybe we had to do it regardless you know many of morning I used to sit around up there 20,000 ft with the Sun at my back waiting for the enemy to come around 20,000 ft in that open cockpit right nowadays we got heated and pressurized cabins didn't you get cold oh how it sure was fact we had to come down to th out you know it gets the cold up there yes I it's a wonderful little ship in spite of the fact that it's made up of wood and wires and struts and slack and tape pulled together with all of these wonderful combination gadgets fact of the matter is the only metal in it the engine and the Machine Guns yes quite a change and in 30 years too true and on the other hand when you take a look at the beautiful Super Constellation all metal one end to the other aluminum steel brass copper in fact every kind of metal known the science is involved in its structure just take a look at that Super Constellation folks 114 ft long with a wingspan of 123 ft four of the latest compounded engines of 3250 horsepower each do you realize how much power that is why each engine has more power than a locomotive This Plane can fly up to around 400 m an hour and we are going to take a ride in it let's hear what Captain Eddie is saying either one of those Wheels always almost as much as a Spam by the way here comes your crew oh hello dick hi dick how you Captain you hello you hello Captain you hello Captain Arthur we'd you out of here at 2:00 just 1 hour from now I'm ready well as long as you fellas are going to do the flying I might as well go on have a good trp so long guys so long what a guy well now we're going to take you on a regularly scheduled flight from New York to Miami only this time you're coming up in the cockpit with us and we're going to show you what goes on behind the scenes we'll you how we fixed okay sir I'll see you on board good now folks I want you to meet my co- Captain for today's trip this is Captain dick Merill over 25 years with Eastern Airlines one of the grandest guys and one of the best pilots who ever lived I'm sure you know of his exploits as well as I do to name one he was the first pilot to fly a commercial flight across the Atlantic and return what do you say captain I said Captain let's check in Crew Scheduling and then go look at the weather I sir we'll do it oh boy look at that beautiful high hey but look at this front back here see how fast is that front moving by 25 M hour to the East Captain here is the latest M good thanks Henry think let's fly down to 22,000 sounds like a good altitude to me Arthur I'll go go and make out the flight plan okay in this room they get weather reports every hour on the hour from weather stations scattered all over the United States and Canada hey you are sir do flight 601 propos 1400 the dispatchers office is the Central Intelligence for all aircraft they know where every plane is every minute on this big board the clerk notes the position of each plane on route as reported by radio and the time due at the next checkpoint we fill out our flight plan with a dispatcher giving our exact route of flight the altitude the amount of fuel and so forth a copy of this will be filed with the government Airways traffic control here you are sir how does that look to you the dispatcher gives us official clearance and we're on our way everything okay you the ship is ready sir 88 FS Captain gross weigh £12,000 another full load eh thanks Al that's what I like to see now for you folks who've never been up on a flight deck before this is it the captain and the pilot have the flying controls at their fingertips at all times while over here the engineer is very busy with the engine instruments these are the throttles just like the accelerator is on your car one for each Engine 2 three 4 this is the control colum and with it you fly the airplane to the right to the left down up and here are your Rudder pedals down below the air speed indicator shows just that how fast we are going through the air the altimeter tells us how high we are this vertical speed indicator tells us our rate of climb or descent the automatic direction finder well that's just what its name would imply it points to where we want to go when we tune in a radio station with it this is the flux gate compass and this one is the Old Reliable magnetic compass just like Columbus had when he came over here this is the Omni range bearing indicator this is the localizer and glide path indicator about which we'll talk a little bit more later this is the Artificial Horizon it shows the attitude of our plane with reference to the real Horizon of course you know that we have radio contact at all time ship to ship ship to ground two or three transmitters and receivers now this plane is already been very thoroughly checked by the maintenance department and during the last hour it was checked by our own flight engineer but that's not enough the pilot and the captain have one two three lists of checks to make before we start down the runway to take off okay dick we'll do the before starting engines check huh right oxygen mask immediately available breake selector and so on through 39 separate items now you passengers wonder why we sit and wait sometimes at the end of the runway it is because the captain and the co-pilot and the crew are making these additional last minute checks well I guess we're ready to wind him up dig now switch over to inom and uh talk to that gentleman outside there by the nose and get ready to start the engines [Music] ground to cockpit clear to start ready to start start three turning three contact [Music] three clear to start four start four turning four as soon as the second engine starts the ground crew checks with the cockpit hydraulic pressure up now the safety pins can be removed from the three Landing Wheels otherwise they could not be retracted when the plane is in the air clear to start too the same routine is followed for each engine clear to start one when the engines are all turning the cockpit team goes through another checklist routine okay dick let's do the before taxi and check flux gate cage hydraulic pressure okay gear pins three pins after that he checks by radio with the airport ground control h wild Ground Control from E Airlines trip 601 taxing instructions e 601 clear the taxi clear the runway 13 right 13 right right the wind South Southeast 10 L temp 2997 get the runway Arthur 15 13 right right right 13 right okay ready to Taxi breakes off ground control having given us permission we taxi over to the warm-up block you notice they told us which Runway to use and the wind direction at the warm-up clock we go through the next or before takeoff check CRS set light instruments okay got ERS mixtures 11 items are checked this time the last checked before the plane leaves the ground ready to check mag number one left both right both number four and so on until all four four engines have been run up in check we are now ready for takeoff clearance out while Ground Control from E 601 ready for clearance Roger Easton 601 cleared for takeoff all right break off CLE for take off okay here we go ready for take off take off power take off power [Music] [Music] gear up he is coming [Music] up there you are see how easily she wanted to get off big as this super Cony is she wants to fly right on off of there Meo power Meo power it's maximum except for takeoff flaps up flaps coming up flaps are extensions of the wing area used to give more lift during the slower speeds of takeoffs and Landing they withdraw in flight for greater speed climb power climb [Music] [Music] power you go for magazine [Music] okay we finished our climb check now it's time for Chesterfield dck I don't smoke Arthur don't smoke you okay thanks you get down on the deck you buy them by the carton see didn't do what uh yeah uh yes sir I thought you wouldn't wrap your tongue around that one twice building up his P oh boy This Is The Life hey there goes that Northbound silver Falcon that's one of Eastern airline's wonderful twin engine planes the new type that has superseded the Beloved old DC3 it's the most advanced twin engine commercial plane in the air today she carries 40 people at a cruising speed of around 300 M an hour one of the most comfortable airplanes you could ever ride in eastern uses them to pick up passengers from intermediate points to connect with these big super conies It's a Wonderful airplane that silver Elon smells like the girls are getting ready to serve dinner back there when the water's hot for tea if anyone cares for anything thank you m Li Diner how about you H what oh this look [Music] delous okay let's level off here Cruise power Cruise power now people often ask me I can figure out how you do this in good weather and Overland but how do you navigate when you're up over the clouds and over the ocean well honestly it's so simple I I hate to tell you well for Direction we have the compass the automatic direction finder and the Omni range receiver let me show you how that works take take over for a minute will you look let me show you how it works I'll fix this up here and draw you a little map let's come on down here we draw the coastline down through Atlantic City on down here to Wilmington Myrtle Beach on down the coast very crudely we're flying along out here somewhere we've got an omni radio station here in Atlantic City we've got another one here at nuk and we've got another one down here at Myrtle Beach so we tune in this station here and on our little dial window I showed you a minute ago it says that we bear from that station say 300° well we draw a line of 300° magnetic true bearing right through that station which extends out here somewhere we are somewhere along that line but where okay so we tune in this next station down here and that one says in the little window that we have got a bearing of say 260° so we draw a line through that station at 260° true and where those two lines cross that is where we are right there little snooze a few hours have gone by and we are now approaching Miami now we'll show you what takes place in our approach and our Landing time for us to start a gradual descent but first we have to get clearance to approach Richard Miami Tower from Eastern 601 10 m North Eastern 601 10 m North at 11 make left turn in Runway 17 wind South 10 altimeter 29 98 [Music] okay dick let's have about 60% flaps map's coming [Music] 60 gear down ge's coming down [Music] [Music] Eastern 601 clear to land 80% flaps flaps coming 80 [Music] full flap full flaps the captain will reverse the pitch of the propellers and push the air forward and to stop the plane there you see that ax as a powerful break so next time when you're riding in an airliner and you hear the engines Roar soon after you're on the ground remember that's what he's doing reversing the props to stop the airplane [Music] well here we are right on schedule I hope you folks enjoyed this as much as we did of course this was purely and strictly a routine flight with beautiful weather but maybe we've been able to show you some things you hadn't seen before but you know I'll bet you right now some of you are saying well sure this was nice it was lovely weather but what happens when the weather is bad well believe me it's still routine you see in the first place up where these super cones do most of the flying the weather's always nice it's way up on top of all the bad weather usually it's only on approaches to our airports that weather becomes any problem and then not much long as we have a half a mile of visibility and 200t of ceiling no problem at all now these minimums are arbitrarily set up by the Civil Aeronautics Administration in the interest of general safety actually we can land one of these airplanes when the minimums are z0 let me show you here we are flying on instruments we're in the clouds it's one of those nights that the birds aren't even walking we have been cleared to make an instrument approach we have been cleared to the outer marker this point we call the outer marker is located approximately 5 miles from the end of the runway a light flashes on the cockpit panel at the same time the ADF needle indicates the passage of the marker and we also get an audio signal at this point the Glide path is intercepted the Glide path is a sloping radio Beacon down which the aircraft should make its descent to the runway and is indicated by the horizontal needle when the needle is centered the aircraft is on the Glide path if the needle moves above Center the aircraft is low and must climb back to the path if the needle is below Center we're high on the Glide path this is a big help in itself but in addition to the ILS the instrument Landing system we have GCA that is Ground Control approach and that can give additional valuable assistance radar monitoring on The localizer Voice as you approach the otter marker by means of this radar the GCA controller sees the approaching plane as a bit of light moving on his scope and can direct it safely to the airport when the flight has been directed to the approach course it is turned over to the radar monitor for Final Approach radar to Eastern you're approaching the ILS course turned to a heading of 247 and I'm turning you over to the radar monitor for Final Approach this is radar monitor edged right on the scope is both Glide path and localizer and any deviation can be detected and measured in feet you are 4 miles from the end of the runway 200 ft to the right of course but correcting nicely your Glide path is good you are 3 miles from the end of the runway your course is good FL pass slightly low but okay you're are two mil from the end of the runway your course is good you're now approaching the middle marker you're over the middle marker the approach light should be coming into view approach lights in view thank you GCA that column of lights ahead shows the approach to the end of the Airport runway each bar of light is 100 ft apart and that ball of light traveling away from us at such a high rate of speed is leading us right to the approach end of the runway itself the green lights Mark the start of the runway and the Border lights on each side stretching out into the distance outline a mile and a half of air strip just waiting for us to land on So You See It isn't too difficult actually we use these Landing AIDS every day in good weather and bad to keep in practice and practically all of the airports that we use are equipped with them the thing to remember is that it's all figured out nothing is guesswork it's still routine now I'm going to show you the most amazing demonstration of power in an airplane you've ever seen let's go back upstairs [Music] now watch this feather one feather [Music] one feather Two Feather two [Music] [Music] look at that on two engines paring along just like a kitten you haven't seen anything yet feather 3 feather [Music] three boy oh boy look at that on one [Music] engine going along just as steady as you like only a constellation can do [Music] this why do we have all that tremendous reserve of power cuz my friends power means safety that's why this Super Constellation is the most Dependable airliner in the world today okay Hugh bring in one un Feathering one [Music] you know these engines are not only the best that money can buy but they are maintained by the finest bunch of Aviation mechanics in the world trained for years by Eastern you know you can have the best captains and the best pilots in the world they can't do much good if the engines don't run we've got the best mechanics in the business in eastern doesn't that Inspire confidence I think it does [Music] [Music] well we all have our dreams I guess I never did aspire to own an airline but I always wanted an airplane of my own even when I was a kid I've got two of them now a DC3 and a navon and there are thousands of privately owned airplanes all over America today this is the little airport or landing strip that I use when I fly home to Virginia that's my Navy on coming in there a single engine plane we can go most anywhere in it it has all the technical facilities and instruments that the big planes have besides the navon I have a DC3 that's my Air [Music] Force we call this little field the lebur International cow pasture cows out there give a 100 octane milk of course these are reciprocating engines here we have the regular jet engines like we use in our military aircraft this is a locked f94c Starfire it's an Air Force jet propelled fighter you see these jet engines contrary to what I'm afraid is too popular a believe are not the lethal things they're cracked up to be as a matter of fact it's so quiet and so vibrationless that to ride behind one of them is a real Comfort we're hoping someday soon that our commercial transport s will be jet propelled you see a jet engine has no propeller the air is drawn in through the intake ducts just forward of the Wings compressed and mixed with burning fuels to produce a powerful jet of exhaust gases which are expelled AF the mechanism involved in reality is much simpler the propeller is replaced by an air compressor there's a combustion chamber into which we inject fuel to expand the air and increase its velocity and installed in the path of the exhaust gases is a turbine to drive the compressor there you have it this is my friend Tommy Daniels a member of our Air Forces for 12 years Tommy is one of the thousands of fine young men who are making a career out of the Air Force taking advantage of the wonderful training they receive how do you like it Tommy it couldn't be better Mr Godfrey It's really wonderful now I'm going to have the pleasure of flying with Tommy today in some very exciting scenes so Tommy what are we going to do well Mr Godfrey I'd like to take you through some pull-ups to show you just what this airplane is designed to do in climbing to altitude rapidly I'm sure you'll enjoy it but it's just routine flying to us we do it every day now before we take off I would like to have your friends take a look at the After Burner in the tail section that gives this airplane this terrific wallup okay Tommy we'll do it this Lockheed Starfire is an all- weather Air Force Interceptor she was designed especially to get off the ground quickly and climb to altitude very quickly in the hope of being able to intercept and stop any enemy bombers that might come over this way to help her get up there quickly she he was designed with this After Burner in the tail section which is why this tail section is so much bigger than any other jet you've probably seen see there's an auxiliary engine back in here that uses exhaust gases as they pass through and reburn them with greater efficiency giving additional thrust to the engine that really is something to watch it get off quickly and climb to altitude boy oh boy I want to show what I mean so we're going to fly by first on the regular Jet and so you can see and hear how it performs and then we're going to fly by with the After Burner on and you'll hear well you'll see for yourself you just watch okay Tommy Let Her Go [Applause] [Music] we are approaching you now on straight jet watch our R to climb [Applause] now we are approaching with the afterburner in operation watch the increase in this [Music] [Music] CLI well how' you like it Mr Godfrey boy my pants are where my neck tie ought to be but it was wonderful gee what a DI woo that's just a sample of what this airplane can do Mr Godfrey thank you Tommy and this airplane can do much more as we're going to see yes and here comes the man now who's going to do it and here is the chief test pilot for lock my good friend Tony levik hello Arthur it's good to see you well if you think those pull-ups were something Arthur just watch and I'll show you how easy it is to pen the sound barrier with this airplane I wasn't with Tony on this flight but we have a camera specially rigged on the tail to give you a close-up view of what happens when you break the sound barrier let me tell you what to watch for first notice the Deep color of the sky how much darker it is at 45,000 ft where Tony will start his dive you are not only far above the clouds but also above the haze and dust of the lower atmosphere you are looking at the pure ultraviolet rays of outer space there's the peel off now listen as the sound builds up usually there are two Thunder claps one when the plane runs away from its sound and the second when the sound catches up again between the two you are flying faster than the speed of sound and it is absolutely silent now the sound is building up the sound barrier has has been broken this is the Silence of SuperSonic flight now the pullout is being made listen to the noise when the sound catches [Music] up now you folks have just seen some very spectacular flying but the point I'd like to make to you is this that as spectacular as it looks it's not fool hearty not without purpose this airplane was built to take that kind of a strain I'll say it was Arthur you know even when you're flying faster than the speed of sound this business of flying in our Air Forces is carefully figured out to the Last Detail we take nothing but calculated risks calculated risks you know our equipment is the very best it's built to fly you wouldn't make Dives and pullouts like that with a transport plane it wasn't built to do that this kind of an airplane was while we were climbing up out of that dive there at the rate of about 45,000 ft a minute for a few seconds even our big bombers the B52 the b-47s they fly so fast and yet they're built to fly strong and have all the bugs been worked out of them so that really it isn't something spectacular this business of flying so fast it's done every day by Personnel that's trained very carefully by men who are competent to train the youngsters coming along your son that joins the Air Force or the Naval Air Service never fear but what he'll get the very best possible instruction that every precaution will be made to look out for his safety sure there's danger to it there's danger to crossing the it takes a special breed of cat to fly these things this this can't be done by any nambi pambi that's why all the men you know who are pilots are such wonderful young men you young fellas looking for adventure looking for real life something you love every minute of it you go and see the nearest Air Force recruit recruiting officer or the nearest naval officer procurement station or the nearest Air Station someplace talk to them about it It's a Wonderful Life you'll love the years that you spend there and you'll use the experience all the rest of your days join up we need you so now let's get back to the man who knows most about where air transportation is going hello art well Rick we've told the story pretty good up to now I think what would you say we can look forward to in the next few years well Arthur you've been talking about Jets you know it won't be long until we'll be flying from New York to Miami in a matter of 2 hours San Francisco in 5 to London in 5 to 5 1/2 hours and at altitudes from 35,000 ft to 45,000 ft in fact we'll be landing and taking off in most any kind of weather well that's fine that's wonderful Rick our planes are flying faster all the time but what are we going to do about this business of getting from the airport to town and from town to the airport dog gone sometimes it takes you longer to do that and it does to fly where you going I know and we're going to be doing something about that too Arthur it won't be long until until you'll be going to your Midtown terminal there you'll step into a Express Elevator and be whisk to the top of of the building there a commodious helicopter be a waiting to take you baggage and all and deposit you at the main airport in just a matter of minutes and not only from downtown Arthur we're going to have feeder lines of helicopters coming in from all the surrounding communities we're going to make flying better and faster we're going to make flying available to still more people well Rick it's been a lot of fun the rare privilege and a great honor to do this with you I've learned a lot and I hope we've done some good I'm sure of it arler good luck God bless you always Captain Godfrey thank you man well it was a real nice trip kid Captain dick Merill it was a rare privilege to fly with you today well Arthur I couldn't have been with a better Captain thank you thank you Gwen and Helen for a very pleas trip you P Palmer a grand flight engineer thank you Al than Grand trip so remember when you want to fly anywhere in the world call Eastern Airlines if one of our planes doesn't go where you want to go we'll put you on one it does and I'll be seeing you be the good Lord willing [Music]