- 21 hours ago
Category
š„
Short filmTranscript
00:00:02Here is the most unusual feature film Walt Disney ever made, a film intended not so much
00:00:07to entertain, but to send a message. Walt, like many people, was impressed by the text
00:00:13of a book called Victory Through Air Power, written by Major Alexander P. Dusefersky.
00:00:18In it, this Russian-born, naturalized American citizen, who became a key figure in the advancement
00:00:23of U.S. military aviation, called for an overhaul of our priorities. He was convinced
00:00:29that the only way to win the war was to focus our energies on creating long-range bomber planes.
00:00:36Remember that when this film was released, in 1943, victory in Europe and the Pacific
00:00:41was far from certain. Spearhead of short-range aviation, pushed step by step through the
00:00:47Balkans. There was no end in sight, and our losses were tremendous. Walt believed in the principles
00:00:53of Siversky's book, and felt it was his patriotic duty to spread the word. By making a technical
00:00:59color feature film about the subject, with limited commercial potential, in the midst
00:01:03of many other wartime duties, Walt quite simply put his money where his mouth was.
00:01:08The message Siversky delivers, quite convincingly in this film, isn't about aggression or warmongering.
00:01:15It's about winning a war against enemies who were bent on world domination. A war America
00:01:20stayed out of until we were attacked without provocation at Pearl Harbor. That's the historical
00:01:26context that gives meaning to this film today. For animation buffs, it's yet another example
00:01:31of how skillfully the Disney artists adapted their visual storytelling techniques to a deadly
00:01:36serious purpose, and how successful they were.
00:01:41In the introductory history of aviation, there's room for humor. But even in the later sections
00:01:46of the film, there's tremendous creativity, from the staging of battle scenes and explosions,
00:01:51to the use of visual metaphors. To make sure Major Siversky made his presentation as persuasively
00:01:57as possible, Walt hired a professional director, a man of long experience on stage and in Hollywood,
00:02:03H.C. Potter, to film these lecture segments. Potter's many movie credits include Mr. Blanding's
00:02:09Builds His Dream House, The Farmer's Daughter, Hells of Poppin', and the story of Vernon
00:02:14and Irene Castle. But more importantly, he was a flyer himself, and already acquainted with its star.
00:02:21He certainly did his job well in this movie, because Siversky comes off quite well, and doesn't
00:02:26seem stiff or severe. When I interviewed Mr. Potter many years ago, he had fond memories
00:02:31of Siversky, whom he knew as Sasha. But he also remembered that he had to shoot those sequences
00:02:36at night, because Walt didn't have sufficient soundproofing to drown out the noise from Lockheed
00:02:41Aircraft nearby. Potter's approach was to make Siversky's speeches seem as far from a lecture
00:02:47as possible. So he gave him lots of movement and other suggestions to make the speeches
00:02:52seem as casual as possible. He especially remembered one night when Sasha couldn't hit his marks,
00:02:57the places where the camera and lighting were set up for him. And he said, Hank, how can
00:03:02I remember the words, the expression, the meaning, the walking without limping, as he had one wooden
00:03:07leg, and hit these marks and think of what I'm saying at the same time? Potter replied,
00:03:13when you're flying airplanes, you're flying a plane, you're navigating, you're looking down
00:03:18at the ground to see if you're going where you're supposed to be going, you're listening
00:03:20to the radio, you're watching for other planes, and you're checking your instruments all at
00:03:24the same time. He concluded in a mock Russian accent, your motto should be, divide the attention.
00:03:32Siversky loved that, and from that time on, before every shot, the crew would chant, divide
00:03:36the attention. Movie critics weren't crazy about the film, and Walt Disney's own distributor, RKO,
00:03:42didn't want to release it. So Walt put the film in theaters through United Artists. But the most
00:03:48important response to the movie came from Winston Churchill. When he flew to Quebec for an Allied
00:03:53conference and learned that President Roosevelt hadn't seen the movie, he and Air Marshal Tedder
00:03:58prodded him until he ordered that a print be sent to him. H.C. Potter was told by Walt that
00:04:04it was
00:04:04only after Roosevelt saw Victory Through Air Power that our country made the commitment
00:04:09to long-range bombing. And that, after all, was the reason Walt committed to making this
00:04:13movie in the first place. Because of its topicality, the Disney studio decided to keep this film
00:04:19in the vaults at the close of World War II. Only the history of aviation sequence was seen
00:04:24in the years since then. It's with great pleasure that we now present Victory Through Air Power
00:04:29in its entirety.
00:04:34The
00:04:35of the
00:04:36of the
00:04:37the
00:04:42of the
00:04:45the
00:04:45the
00:09:49Back in America.
00:12:58The fight.
00:13:57practical uses.
00:14:06The airplane at the tender age of 10 went off to war.
00:14:11At first, aircraft was considered to have very little military value except for observation
00:14:16purposes.
00:14:17A spirit of sportsmanship existed between the rival pilots.
00:14:22As they would pass each other on their daily flights over the lines, they would wave a
00:14:26friendly greeting, and sometimes take pictures of one another, which led to an unusual development.
00:14:36SacrƩ bleu, this is outrage!
00:14:43And so, the next day, the following day, being a hothead as well as a squarehead, Fritz took
00:14:58a pot shot at Pierre.
00:15:08Duels with pistols, shotguns, and rifles led to the installation of the machine gun, successful
00:15:14but for one small detail.
00:15:24The propeller got in the way.
00:15:29Then, science developed a synchronizing device to allow the bullets to pass between the rapidly
00:15:34revolving blades of the propeller.
00:15:37The airplane became a formidable weapon of grenades and hand bombs, led to a new and terrible instrument
00:15:44of war, the bomber.
00:16:00The terrific competition of aerial combat compel the rapid improvement of aircraft.
00:16:06of theŃŃskia!
00:16:33The
00:16:34manner, the
00:17:00More than 20,000 conflicts were fought in the air.
00:17:03The forced development of aircraft in these four years of war would have taken 20 years
00:17:09to accomplish in peacetime, yet the war ended before the world fully realized the military
00:17:15potential of air power.
00:17:21As a war-weary public transferred its interest to peacetime activities, the airplane again
00:17:27had to struggle for existence.
00:17:29The fly-with-me gypsy flyer barnstormed all over the country.
00:17:43While people still regarded the airplane as an exciting novelty, farsighted airmen were
00:17:48compelling the public to look upon aviation with a new respect.
00:17:51The U.S. Navy MC-4 flew from Newfoundland to England via the Azores.
00:17:57The first non-stop transatlantic flight was made by Alcock and Brown from Newfoundland
00:18:02to Ireland.
00:18:03First solo flight across the Atlantic, Charles A. Lindbergh, New York to Paris.
00:18:08First round-the-world flight, U.S. Army planes circled the globe.
00:18:12Flying time, 15 days, 11 hours.
00:18:15Post and gaffing, four days, 10 hours.
00:18:20Howard Hughes, two days, 23 hours.
00:18:24Altitude flights developed superchargers and de-icers.
00:18:28Air races improved design and advanced speeds.
00:18:38Power diving at 620 miles per hour tested durability and construction of planes.
00:18:48The first airmail service in 1918 grew in a short time to major airlines with regularly scheduled
00:18:56transcontinental and then transoceanic passenger and freight service.
00:19:01Aviation was progressing at a tremendous pace.
00:19:04Time was being compressed.
00:19:07Distance shrunk.
00:19:09Range lengthened and load capacity increased.
00:19:12The airplane, now flying all over the world,
00:19:16was the only weapon of war to develop such great usefulness in peacetime.
00:19:26American aviation met the challenge.
00:19:31Remember, the experiment of 1914 had become a devastating force.
00:19:35From the mile-a-minute plane of World War I,
00:19:38we are starting today with planes flying more than six miles a minute.
00:19:44During the last war, firepower was increased from one brick per minute to 2,400 bullets per minute.
00:19:53Today, we're starting with 9,600 bullets per minute.
00:20:02During World War I, aerial grenades and 25-pound hand bombs grew to 2-ton bomb loads.
00:20:09Today, we're starting with 10-ton bomb loads of the most devastating explosives ever conceived by science.
00:20:17Today, the historic flight of C.S. Rolls is repeated daily by Rolls-Royce powered pursuit and bomber planes.
00:20:25Departing from England, the flight across the channel was quite uneventful.
00:20:30Reaching the other side and being recognized,
00:20:36dropped greetings and without stopping, returned home safely without mishap.
00:20:44In one single night, the bomb load dropped on Cologne was 20 times greater than the total amount used in
00:20:52the last war by the United States.
00:21:01Today, only a brief 40 years later, the Wright brothers' first flight of 120 feet could be made with 92
00:21:09feet to spare on the wing of the B-19.
00:21:13Yet, this huge 82-ton experimental bomber, designed seven years ago, is only a forerunner of what can be done.
00:21:24He literally grew up with aviation.
00:21:27His father was the first Russian to privately own and fly an airplane.
00:21:32At 10, his military education began.
00:21:35He graduated from the Imperial Russian Naval Academy as a lieutenant and saw service with the fleet in 1914.
00:21:43With a firm belief in the future of aviation, he became a full-fledged pilot in both Army and Naval
00:21:50aviation
00:21:50and was assigned to flying duty with the Baltic fleet.
00:21:55While on a night bombing mission, he was shot down
00:22:00and suffered the loss of his right leg, an invalid at 22.
00:22:05Ignoring his handicap and determined to fight again, he returned to the front as chief of General Billy Mitchell.
00:22:12Having become a citizen, in 1928 he was commissioned a major in the United States Air Corps.
00:22:19He invented the first fully automatic bombsite and many other instruments and devices,
00:22:24all contributing to the greater efficiency of military aviation.
00:22:28He designed, built, tested, and himself flew his new planes,
00:22:32among them an all-metal amphibian plane, in which he set a world speed record that still stands.
00:22:38The first low-wing, all-metal basic training plane,
00:22:42and the first all-metal single-seater fighter plane of cantilever construction adopted by the United States Army.
00:22:49In 1937, to prove long range could be built into pursuit planes,
00:22:53he set a new non-stop record from New York to Havana.
00:22:57In an Army pursuit ship of his own design, he was the first officially to cross the country.
00:23:02Drafting boards of all the warring nations, take to the air,
00:23:06there will not be a single spot on the face of the Earth immune from overhead attack.
00:23:10The enormous flying range and destructive power of these planes will transform the entire surface of our planet into a
00:23:18battlefield.
00:23:19The distinction between soldiers and civilians will be erased.
00:23:24And I believe that it is only a matter of time before we here in America will suffer our share
00:23:31of civilian casualties.
00:23:32And so warfare becomes everybody's business.
00:23:36All of us must understand the strategy of war.
00:23:39No longer should it be a mystery open only to military minds.
00:23:43The strategy of war is simply a plan to defeat the enemy.
00:23:47In wars of the past, there were only two ways to do it.
00:23:50One was to kill off his army in order to lay hands on the source of his power.
00:23:55The other was to sink his navy, enforce a blockade, and starve him into submission.
00:24:02Along comes the airplane, and an entirely new method of defeating the enemy becomes possible.
00:24:08We can carry the war now over the heads of his army and navy,
00:24:12strike directly at the source of his power, his war industries,
00:24:16and by destroying these war industries, automatically disarm and paralyze his fighting forces.
00:24:23This new kind of warfare, a strategy based on air power,
00:24:27was clearly foreseen more than 20 years ago by such great airmen as General Duane in Europe,
00:24:34and our own General Mitchell here in America.
00:24:37Time and again they warned that this new military force,
00:24:41swifter and more deadly than any in the past, equally devastating on land or at sea,
00:24:47would revolutionize warfare and make the old-style surface strategy impossible.
00:24:52But their warnings were dismissed as fantastic and visionary.
00:24:57The military men of the old school were unwilling to recognize this fundamental change in war-making.
00:25:03They stubbornly continued to pour the resources of their nations into weapons that had already outlived their usefulness.
00:25:11As for the airplane, they accepted it, but just as another weapon,
00:25:15just another means to bolster up their old methods of surface warfare.
00:25:21At the start of this war, Europe was prepared to fight along the same old lines.
00:25:33England, with its undisputed control of the seas, was supposed to take care of sea warfare,
00:25:38and France, with its great army, of land warfare.
00:25:44France ended the last war victoriously in the trenches,
00:25:48so the natural tendency was to build bigger and better trenches,
00:25:52culminating in that super-colossal trench, the Trench des Loupes, the Maginot Line.
00:26:01In these fantastic underground fortresses were stored enough supplies to withstand a siege of years.
00:26:07The military leaders assured the French people that this mighty wall of steel and concrete made France impregnable.
00:26:16Those who dare criticize this plan of defense were sharply reminded that the French general staff was the greatest on
00:26:23earth.
00:26:24In the meantime, Hitler was scheming a conquest based on lightning speed and surprise.
00:26:44His long-range artillery took wings.
00:26:50Air power became the spearhead of attack, blasting clear a path for his ground.
00:26:55Representing a great national effort, stand only as grim monuments to outmoded military thinking.
00:27:04And what about the mighty floating fortresses that Britain relied on for control of the seas?
00:27:11When Hitler hurled his blitzkrieg across the water gap into Norway,
00:27:15the British Navy was confident that he had made a fatal mistake.
00:27:20By cutting Hitler's supply lines, they expected to trap his forces behind a naval blockade.
00:27:30But like the French Army, the British Navy underestimated the tremendous war potential of air power.
00:27:50Planes from British aircraft carriers took to the air.
00:27:54But they proved no match for the land-based aviation of the Nazis.
00:28:00Britain's own land-based planes lacked the range to come to the rescue.
00:28:04So, the world's mightiest navy, utterly helpless, was forced to retire to the protection of the Royal Air Force.
00:28:12Driven back not by another navy, but by this totally new military force, air power.
00:28:24Hitler planted a string of air bases along the Norwegian coast.
00:28:28And with air power, took over control of the seas in this area.
00:28:33Ignoring the floating fortresses, as completely as it ignored the land fortresses of France,
00:28:38he was able to move his supplies across this water gap unmolested.
00:28:49Over 300,000 British troops cornered, doomed men facing surrender or annihilation
00:28:56under the merciless pounding of Hitler's aerial spearhead.
00:29:03But in contrast to Norway, Dunkirk was within easy reach of Britain's land-based fighter planes.
00:29:10For the first time, Hitler's flying spearhead met real air opposition.
00:29:18The Royal Air Force gained mastery of the skies in this area through a screen of wings from shore to
00:29:24shore.
00:29:25And under this ship...
00:29:51The superior quality of British men and machines.
00:29:55overwhelmed German quantity,
00:29:58blasted 2,400 planes out of the sky
00:30:03and broke the spearhead of the German offensive.
00:30:09In winning the Battle of Britain,
00:30:11the gallant Royal Air Force established a new military truth
00:30:15in the history of war-making,
00:30:17that as long as a nation controls its own skies,
00:30:21it cannot be invaded.
00:30:26Hitler's invasion plan shattered,
00:30:29he decided to suffocate England
00:30:31by cutting her lines of supply.
00:30:34In the Mediterranean, during the era of sea power,
00:30:38control had always centered around the naval strongholds
00:30:41of Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, and Haifa.
00:30:46In the new era of air power,
00:30:48the island of Crete was destined to become
00:30:50the commanding center of the eastern half of the Mediterranean.
00:30:58In the new era of Crete,
00:30:59Recognizing the importance of Crete,
00:31:01Hitler, with his spearhead of short-range aviation,
00:31:04pushed step by step through the Balkans
00:31:07and amassed his strength for an aerial invasion.
00:31:10The British had neglected to provide Crete with an aerial defense
00:31:14and were confident they could defend it with their navy.
00:31:17The world witnessed the first clear-cut duel
00:31:20between sea power and air power.
00:31:23The Luftwaffe went to work,
00:31:26sinking ships,
00:31:28destroying ground installations,
00:31:32seizing airfields with parachute troops,
00:31:35and finally landing an army of occupation
00:31:37in gliders and transport planes.
00:31:44The first territory to be conquered entirely through air power.
00:31:50Another upset in war-making.
00:31:54For more than two years,
00:31:56we had front row seats to watch this revolution in war-making.
00:31:59Yet we failed to understand the lessons of air power.
00:32:03In the Pacific, we left the skies unprotected.
00:32:06With our battle fleet in Pearl Harbor as our first line of defense,
00:32:10we were prepared for traditional naval warfare.
00:32:13But again, the first blow came from the air.
00:32:37In one hour and twenty minutes,
00:32:39a mighty battle fleet was put out of action by a mere 150 planes.
00:32:46True, Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack.
00:32:50But three days later,
00:32:51two of the mightiest warships of the British Navy,
00:32:54Prince of Wales and Repulse,
00:32:56fully alert,
00:32:57dared to venture within striking range
00:32:59of enemy land-based bomber and torpedo planes.
00:33:32The tragic sinking of these two mighty warships was final proof
00:33:37that navies can no longer carry a war to the enemy,
00:33:41whose shores are adequately defended by land-based aviation.
00:33:48Our naval defense of the Pacific crumpled under the blows of air power.
00:33:53Japan's lightning drive was nothing but a faithful limitation of the German Blitzkrieg.
00:33:58They employed exactly the same tactics.
00:34:00Having practically no air opposition,
00:34:03Japan's spearhead of air power cleared the path for its land and sea forces
00:34:08and drove us out of one island after another until most of the Pacific was lost.
00:34:14Only then did the Earth-bound mind grasp the main lesson of this war,
00:34:18that no battle can be won on the surface of the Earth
00:34:22without first gaining complete control of the sky above.
00:34:26We were so impressed with the use to which the enemy put the weapons of land, sea and air
00:34:31that we ourselves adopted the very same tactics.
00:34:35Aviation was recognized as a full-fledged member of our fighting team.
00:34:40It was to provide a roof for our army and navy
00:34:43and act as a spearhead of our offensive.
00:34:46Now we were confident that we could beat the enemy at his own game.
00:34:51The reasoning, simpological enough.
00:34:53If we have the same kind of weapons as the enemy, only more of them,
00:34:57how can we lose?
00:34:59With our abundant resources, wealth of manpower and tremendous industrial capacity,
00:35:05why we can build the biggest army, the biggest navy and the biggest air force.
00:35:11And with this super-colossal team, we'll smother the enemy with the sheer weight of our men and machines.
00:35:17The success of this procedure depends on two things.
00:35:21First, we must produce a vast amount of weapons of endless variety.
00:35:26And second, we must deliver this maze of equipment to battlefronts that are spread all over the face of the
00:35:32Earth.
00:35:33Already nearly 100 million tons of vital supplies are required every month, month after month.
00:35:42And if we step up the offensive, this tonnage will grow.
00:35:46Now can we produce and keep on producing?
00:35:50And if we can, can we deliver and keep on delivering all this?
00:35:55Regardless of the courage and gallantry of our men on the battlefront.
00:35:59Regardless of the sacrifice and effort on the homefront.
00:36:03As long as we follow this course, victory or defeat hangs on the fate of our line of supply.
00:36:16With this surface struggle embracing the globe, the problem of transportation becomes the deciding issue.
00:36:24To grasp what we're up against, let's spread this problem before us.
00:36:31In the west, the battlefronts stretch over Europe and Africa.
00:36:35The main theaters of war are the Russian Front, extending from Mermansk to the Black Sea.
00:36:41The Near East and Mediterranean Fronts.
00:36:45In the east, from the Arctic to the South Pacific.
00:36:51Between these two theaters of conflict, thousands of miles away, lies the arsenal of democracy.
00:37:02This highly mechanized war has placed tremendous demands on our production capacity, which is rapidly approaching its peak.
00:37:09Ever-mounting numbers of tanks, guns, planes, roll-off production lines.
00:37:22This vital equipment for the distant fronts is rushed across the continent, but finally jams up in the bottleneck of
00:37:29shipping.
00:37:39This lifeblood of vital war supplies must be pumped through the arteries of our transport lines over distances that actually
00:37:46girdle the globe.
00:37:49To illustrate, when a supply ship from San Francisco moves over the trackless miles of ocean and delivers its cargo
00:37:57at Suez,
00:37:58It can return over the same route, or travel the rest of the way around the world.
00:38:04In either case, as far as the distance in wartime is concerned, it's a toss-up.
00:38:09And the ship is lucky if it can deliver more than two loads a year.
00:38:15Wartime distances and peacetime distances are entirely different.
00:38:19For example, from San Francisco to Melbourne in peacetime is 6,700 miles.
00:38:26But in wartime, with enemy control jutting out its sphere of domination, the distance has almost doubled,
00:38:34and the enemy has twice as long to attack our shipping.
00:38:38But his supply lines, being interior lines, have not changed from peacetime.
00:38:48To deliver supplies to the Russian front, our navies must convoy ships over 4,000 perilous miles to Murmansk,
00:38:56and from there more than 1,000 miles overland to the battlefront.
00:39:02By contrast, the Nazis can rush supplies to the same front in a few days by direct overland transport.
00:39:12Geographically, the Axis has a great advantage.
00:39:15They operate with short interior lines of supply, whereas we're compelled to use long exterior lines,
00:39:22a 50,000-mile battlefront, every mile threatened by the deadliest menace of all, the submarine.
00:39:33Against these wolf packs lurking underwater and striking from ambush,
00:39:38the ship glued to the surface is a helpless target.
00:39:42In order to win the battles at the front, Hitler must cut our lifeline of supply.
00:39:48The U-boat, his major weapon, is our greatest problem.
00:39:54He is building improved U-boats by the hundreds,
00:39:58ever-growing in size and striking power, immune to anything short of a direct hit.
00:40:08Every measure we take to protect this slow-moving target will be offset by new scientific devices in the submarine.
00:40:24Soon it will be able to lurk safely below the surface,
00:40:27and without ever revealing its presence, accurately locate the approaching victim.
00:40:48Our shipbuilding industry tries desperately to meet the challenge,
00:40:52but faces a tragic contest between launchings and sinkings.
00:41:06Every ship that goes down is a triple casualty of wasted material, labor, and human life.
00:41:15With millions of tons of our production going to the bottom instead of to battle,
00:41:19a tremendous strain is put on our industrial heart.
00:41:29As long as we cling to a strategy based on surface warfare,
00:41:33the advantage is on the side of the enemy.
00:41:37Hitler's strategic position resembles a wheel.
00:41:43To crush this structure by striking at the rim, from all sides,
00:41:48millions of men and machines, in a clash of steel against steel.
00:41:53Should we concentrate enough force to attack at any one point,
00:41:57Hitler can quickly shift his power and reinforce the threatened sector.
00:42:02No matter where we strike, Hitler can strike back swiftly with the right force at the right place.
00:42:12Should we strike from all sides with superior force,
00:42:16Hitler will contract his wheel.
00:42:18The spokes become shorter.
00:42:20The rim thicker.
00:42:22The whole structure stronger and more nearly impregnable.
00:42:27To successfully attack, we must use a superior force and attempt to knock out Hitler's equipment faster than he can
00:42:34replace it.
00:42:35Tanks destroy tanks.
00:42:37And our supporting short-range aviation plays an important part by destroying more of Hitler's equipment.
00:42:46But with his factories unmolested, he can quickly fill the gaps by moving his supplies short distances over dry land.
00:42:59By contrast, our replacements must be carried in transports over those thousands of perilous floating miles,
00:43:07constantly under attack from the enemy.
00:43:19As long as we fight on the surface of the earth, Hitler has all the advantage.
00:43:26But with the strategy of air power, the advantage is ours.
00:43:29Air power ignores the battlefronts of the rim.
00:43:32By direct and independent action, it strikes at the hub.
00:43:38With this all-important source of enemy power knocked out, the whole structure will collapse,
00:43:44and our surface forces will move in and clinch the victory with a tremendous saving in human lives.
00:43:52This is the real teamwork.
00:43:54This is the true role of air power.
00:43:57The present air offensive against Germany is the beginning of such strategy.
00:44:01Already more than 50 industrial targets have felt the sting of bombardment.
00:44:07The Royal Air Force has blazed the trail.
00:44:10They are giving the Nazis a thorough lesson in the proper use of air power.
00:44:14And this is no accident.
00:44:16Back in 1918, in the very midst of the last war, the British people had the wisdom and courage to
00:44:23take a bold step.
00:44:24They divorced their air force from their army and navy and set it up as a separate and independent branch.
00:44:32The entire air potential of the country was unified.
00:44:35As a result, the Royal Air Force has been able to go ahead and develop its strength free and unhampered.
00:44:45American airmen have not had the same opportunity.
00:44:48They are still part and parcel of our army and navy.
00:44:51But recently, under the pressure of events, we have combined our air strength with that of the British.
00:44:58And now some of our own airmen, together with the Royal Air Force, are planning and carrying out real air
00:45:05strategy.
00:45:06As the United Nations surround Nazi Europe with a ring of air bases, the present day bombers, such as the
00:45:13British Stirlings and Lancasters,
00:45:15and our own flying fortresses and liberators, with air striking radius of 1,000 miles, will be able to reach
00:45:22every spot of the Axis anatomy.
00:45:25Air power, at last, will be in opposition to score a major decision, to bomb the enemy into submission, to
00:45:33knock Germany out of the war.
00:45:35But whether this happens or not depends not on air power, but again on those same lines of supply.
00:45:43Air power, planted on these distant bases, far away from its main source of supply, is only as good as
00:45:51the supply lines by which it is fed.
00:45:53If these lines can supply the needs of this ring, present day bombers, with air striking radius of 1,000
00:46:03miles, will be able to do the job.
00:46:04But in the Pacific, they haven't got a chance.
00:46:08Let's take our ring and move it over Japan.
00:46:12If our bases were this close, it would be a simple matter.
00:46:17But Japan's sphere of domination is three times that of Germany.
00:46:20Japan is far beyond our reach.
00:46:23All military men agree that Japan cannot be defeated until the source of its power is destroyed.
00:46:30They all agree that Japan itself is the target.
00:46:34But they all disagree on how to get at it.
00:46:37Some pin their hopes on Siberia.
00:46:40Others on direct assault from the sea with aircraft carriers.
00:46:43Some still cling to the island-by-island approach.
00:46:47Some say China.
00:46:50China bases key to air offensive.
00:46:53New bombers can strike hard of Japan from Chinese airfields.
00:46:58But they could not strike on a big enough scale to knock Japan out.
00:47:03China is isolated.
00:47:06Cut off from outside help.
00:47:07On one side by impassable mountains.
00:47:11On the other three by the enemy.
00:47:14The kind of air offensive that could smash Japan would require millions of tons of material.
00:47:20bombs, gasoline, oil, replacements.
00:47:24All these vital supplies must be brought in from the outside.
00:47:28And with the only means of delivery by air, the task becomes impossible.
00:47:33To reopen surface supply lines, we must drive the enemy out of Burma, Thailand and Indochina.
00:47:40This means another major war.
00:47:43Two thousand miles through steaming jungles, hacking our way inch by inch.
00:47:48Struggling over formidable mountain barriers.
00:47:52Crawling through fever-ridden swamps.
00:47:55Years of exhaustive fighting.
00:47:57And even then, our bases would still be dependent on the longest, most vulnerable lines of supply on the face
00:48:05of the globe.
00:48:06Bombed Japan from Siberia.
00:48:09Tokyo within two hours flying time of Russian bases.
00:48:13The Japanese are just as aware of this as we are.
00:48:16The instant any attempt is made to use these airfields for bombing raids against the Japanese homeland, the jaws will
00:48:24close.
00:48:25Touching off another surface struggle for air bases, with the odds all in favor of the Japs, whose supply lines
00:48:32are much shorter than ours.
00:48:34U.S. carrier-based planes will blast Jap homeland.
00:48:38Direct attack by sea.
00:48:40Naval expert claims with a fleet of 100 carriers, U.S. could attack direct from sea and overwhelm Japan with
00:48:48clouds of carrier-borne bombers.
00:48:50Any such attempt will only prove the superiority of land-based aviation over carrier-based aviation.
00:48:57The land-based plane has the advantage of size, range, and bomb load, because it can take off from a
00:49:05runway two or three miles long.
00:49:09By contrast, the carrier's runway is only a fraction of the size.
00:49:15Therefore, the plane itself has to be much smaller, which in turn reduces the range and bomb load.
00:49:23To destroy Japan with these small doses of TNT would require not a hundred, but thousands of carriers.
00:49:33Long before our floating airfields could bring their short-range aviation within striking distance,
00:49:39Japan's powerful land-based planes would reach far out into the Pacific,
00:49:43and our carriers would be under constant and merciless attack, not only from above, but from the surface, and from
00:49:53below.
00:49:55Aircraft brought on these floating bases must share the same fate as the fleet itself.
00:50:02Land-sea air team to clear path to Tokyo.
00:50:06Island-to-island amphibious drive to whip Japan.
00:50:10Japan has already fortified its new empire with a chain of island strongholds,
00:50:16converting every one of them into a powerful, unsinkable airbase.
00:50:21Experience has proved that to invade and reconquer any of these islands
00:50:25is far too costly in life, substance, and time.
00:50:29For while we exhaust ourselves attacking the outer fringe,
00:50:33the enemy feverishly rakes in the loot of his stolen empire.
00:50:37Fire, oil, copper, iron, tungsten, tin, rubber.
00:50:43Gorging on this new life blood, his war industries, the heart and vitals of the beast,
00:50:49out of reach and unmolested, swell in size and power.
00:50:54Forge more bullets, guns, tanks, bombs, planes, to strengthen his defenses.
00:51:02More weapons of death and destruction to expand his sphere of domination.
00:51:11Whether on the continent, island by island, or on the high seas,
00:51:17this long and exhausting struggle is nothing but a fight for air bases,
00:51:21so we can bring our short-range aviation close enough to strike at Japan.
00:51:28What is the solution?
00:51:30Long-range air power.
00:51:32When we increase the range of our bombers, we automatically decrease the surface struggle.
00:51:39Double the range, half the struggle.
00:51:41So the longer the range, the shorter the war.
00:51:44By increasing the striking radius of our bombers to 3,000 miles,
00:51:49we will be able to reach Japan from the bases we have today.
00:51:54But with this range, air power will no longer have to depend on these distant bases.
00:51:59It will be able to strike directly from continental America
00:52:03and free itself of all dependency on overseas supply lines.
00:52:09From the great industrial heart of America, our overland supply line,
00:52:14the highway to victory, runs to Alaska.
00:52:19Then Alaska points straight at the heart of Japan.
00:52:29Bombers that can take off from our own shores, fly across the ocean, strike at the enemy, and return nonstop,
00:52:36are not only possible, but practical.
00:52:39It is no longer a question of whether it can be done, but of making up our minds to do
00:52:44it.
00:52:44The science of aviation is ready to give us powerful, long-range combat planes,
00:52:49far exceeding anything in the air today.
00:52:52They will be heavily armed and bristling with large-caliber cannon.
00:52:58Their size and stability will provide a steady platform for scientific range-finding and gun sights
00:53:04to assure accuracy of fire.
00:53:09Small, single-seater fighters will find themselves helpless,
00:53:13for their guns are not maneuverable.
00:53:15They are fixed and can only fire forward.
00:53:27So while the small fighters are jockeying to get into position,
00:53:31they are under the constant and deadly fire of the combat plane,
00:53:37which is always in firing position.
00:53:3920,000-6 million men in strums were forced to attack 30.
00:54:13Once complete mastery of the air is achieved,
00:54:17enemy war industries will lie helplessly exposed to systematic destruction.
00:54:26The science of demolition is keeping pace with the development of aviation,
00:54:30the bombs forever growing in size and destructive power.
00:54:36The industrial districts of all nations depend on huge dams for their main source of power,
00:54:42our boulder dam, Japan's Nagayo, and those in the German Rhineland.
00:54:47These solid structures suffer relatively minor damage when hit by one and two-ton bombs.
00:54:54But when a ten-ton delayed action bomb is dropped,
00:54:57not on the concrete structure, but deep in the water behind the dam,
00:55:05its explosion will multiply the pressure of the water far beyond the structural strength of the dam
00:55:10and crush it like an eggshell.
00:55:20With this important source of power knocked out,
00:55:23the war industries of the entire region will come to a standstill.
00:55:32Scientific bombing is destined to conquer Hitler's submarines,
00:55:37not by attacking them one by one as they roam the seven seas,
00:55:41but by striking right at their source, the breeding grounds in Germany proper.
00:55:48Today, the U-boats are protected from ordinary bombing by thick roofs of reinforced concrete.
00:55:54However, science is developing an armor-piercing bomb employing the rocket principle.
00:56:00As it nears its target, a rocket in the tail ignites.
00:56:06Driving it down with such terrific speed, it can knife its way through steel and concrete.
00:56:21Industrial districts within reach of this air power will be on the receiving end of other gigantic bombs
00:56:27that contain an auxiliary charge in their tails, backed by a counterweight.
00:56:32As the bomb nears its target, a secondary explosion takes place,
00:56:37driving it away from the counterweight,
00:56:41which explodes into a shower of incendiary.
00:56:44Driven down like a shot from a cannon, this bomb, by its very size and penetration,
00:56:50will explode deep underground and cause a local earthquake.
00:57:02Completely demolishing everything over a wide area.
00:57:08This is the coming reality. And we must face the fact that it is a two-way proposition.
00:57:16No nation has a monopoly on this kind of air power.
00:57:20And when it comes, there can be no real defense against such an attack.
00:57:25Bombers will always go through. And the only sure defense will be a vigorous offense.
00:57:30It's a question of who destroys who first. Right now, America holds the answer.
00:57:37Not only because of our superior science and industrial power, but because at this stage of the war,
00:57:43our strategic position is such that we can shift our industrial effort into long-range air power.
00:57:50But the enemy cannot. And this is why.
00:57:55He has overrun vast territories and subjugated millions of people
00:58:00against their will. In order to suppress rebellion and harness slave labor to develop his newly acquired resources,
00:58:07he must maintain a huge army. And a huge army requires a huge number of supporting aircraft.
00:58:14So his entire industry must keep on grinding out this same kind of aviation.
00:58:19He cannot afford to disturb his production and start building long-range air power
00:58:25until he has consolidated his gains and digested his loot. And that takes time. And that time is ours.
00:58:34Today, the enemy is sprawled on the ground. And while his greedy tentacles are clutching the loot,
00:58:40his body lies unprotected. Why spend our precious time trying to loosen his grip,
00:58:46in a struggle that can only lead to the complete devastation of the very lands we are trying to free?
00:58:52Why not use this time to forge the dagger that can strike at the heart of the beast?
00:58:58Once we give up the idea of trying to regain the lost territory inch by inch,
00:59:02we can hold the enemy with surface forces much smaller than his.
00:59:06If we use our short-range aviation to provide undisputed control of the skies over our forces,
00:59:13our present positions cannot be invaded. Any further expansion on the part of the enemy
00:59:19will lead to his exhaustion, not ours. So by conserving our efforts on land and on sea,
00:59:26we can throw the vast resources of America into long-range air power,
00:59:30and strike the decisive blow through the air. This cannot be accomplished simply by building a lot of
00:59:37huge airplanes. We could have swarms and clouds of them and still not have real air power.
00:59:43What we must do is unify the entire air strength of our country into one formidable force under a
00:59:51single air command. This is a major undertaking, but it is a move that is bound to come sooner or
00:59:58later.
00:59:59Because air power is swiftly emerging as the dominant force in war or in peace, this move
01:00:06will either be forced upon us by the march of events, or it will come through the foresight and
01:00:13native intelligence of the American people. In the past, they have never failed to act promptly and wisely
01:00:19once they understood the problem they faced. And so in this crucial hour in the destiny of our country,
01:00:26they will not hesitate to break the chains of habit and free themselves from the earthbound past.
01:00:33Only then will our aviation leadership be free to plan and carry out real air strategy that will
01:00:40bring us victory in the shortest possible time with a minimum investment in human lives. Only then will
01:00:47the creative brains and productive talent of our aviation industry be free to forge the real weapons of air
01:00:54power that will carry total destruction to the enemy.
01:00:58Thank you so much for joining us, and we'll see you in the next episode.
01:01:51our gallant airmen have already demonstrated their skill, their resourcefulness, and their courage.
01:01:58born to this aerial age, they understand war in the sky. America should not hesitate to place its destiny
01:02:06in the hands of these men. For with the strategy of air power, they will make the enemy fight on
01:02:12our terms,
01:02:13against the weapons, against the weapons of our choosing, at our time, but on his soil.
01:02:40So rest assured,iÄ
was that sailors never Dieseiziative, there are oneangrabatis Deuteron ź°ź²©.
01:02:47CuccĆØne, they irresponsibly what they do to do to protect themselves.
01:02:48Oh, my God.
01:03:18Oh, my God.
01:03:55Oh, my God.
Comments