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00:10The End
00:39THE END
01:03In the past weeks, we have traced the history of air power in peace and war.
01:08From what we have seen, we may be able to understand its importance today and its possibilities tomorrow.
01:15Perhaps the first thing to remember is that the whole development of air power has taken place in one generation,
01:23our generation.
01:25When I joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1912, the use of aeroplanes in warfare was an adventure into the
01:32unknown.
01:34Our first bombers were primitive tactical weapons designed to support the army in the field.
01:40Their range was small and their bombers wouldn't have done much damage even if it had been possible to drop
01:46them accurately, which it wasn't.
01:50Sometimes the bomb was more lethal to the pilot than to the enemy.
01:54As for the tactics, well, we were still thinking in terms of giving close support to the charge of the
02:00Light Brigade.
02:05The idea that the air itself was the battlefield of the future was only dawning.
02:10But during the Kaiser War, the fighter was born, and with it, the battle for air superiority.
02:18Aircraft like these fought the enemy to gain the control of the air on which the work of our reconnaissance
02:24machines depended.
02:52Two years later, the first bomber squadrons,
02:55of the independent air force, started attacking German industrial targets across the Rhine.
03:00The strategic use of air power had started along the road where we stand today.
03:08At sea during those years, the Royal Naval Air Service had to face its own difficulties.
03:14But by 1918, it had grown into a large and efficient force which was establishing the principles of air-sea
03:21war.
03:21To search, to find and fix enemy war vessels, and then help the Navy to destroy them.
03:29By 1918, our early aircraft carriers were showing the value of naval air power,
03:35which was to lead to the great carrier actions of the Second World War.
03:40Between the two world wars, experiments and improvements in aircraft design went on steadily.
03:47But the original ideas hardly changed.
03:50These are still biplanes, based on the old formula.
03:55Even by the early 1930s, when the threat from the Luftwaffe was already clear,
04:01these biplanes constituted our front-line air defense.
04:05They made a fine show at the Hendon Air Displays,
04:08but it was the past that they wrote in the sky.
04:24The Germans, meanwhile, were building fast airliners,
04:27which could be used as troop carriers or bombers.
04:31They failed to build a long-range strategic bomber force,
04:34where they produced a variety of two-engine bombers,
04:37with what we now think of as a medium-range,
04:41enough to attack Britain from the continent.
04:44Against these, the fighter was assisted by the world's first early warning radar,
04:49and a control system which helped to win the Battle of Britain.
05:01Our own faith in strategic bombing remained firm.
05:04We had long since produced our first long-range monoplanes,
05:09the Wellesleys,
05:10the precursors of the Wellingtons,
05:12and the giants of Bomber Command.
05:14It was the Allies who did what the Germans and Japanese failed to do.
05:19We built up a great force of long-range heavy bombers,
05:22with which we could cripple the enemy in his homeland.
05:27Then, in 1945,
05:30the strategic bombers were given a new bomb,
05:33and a whole force of air power
05:35was multiplied a million times
05:37in a single blinding flash.
05:44In this cloud,
05:46the Atomic Age was born,
05:48and soon, on the deserted coastline of Australia,
05:52Britain was testing her own nuclear weapons.
05:55This was Montebello in October 1952,
05:58before the zero hour of Operation Hurricane.
06:01This was to be ground zero.
06:04This was to be vaporized.
06:06Here, years of calculation and months of work
06:09narrowed down to one more moment of destruction.
06:25In Australia, America, Russia,
06:28the trials continued.
06:30The Earth shook,
06:31and the sky was darkened.
06:59In these deserts,
07:01which we have made more desolate,
07:03even the air is lethal,
07:05and men must go hooded,
07:07holding their Geiger counters
07:08like charms against invisible death.
07:19As the weapons of attack grow more monstrous,
07:22the tasks of civil defense are multiplied.
07:27Lessons learned over the past decade still hold,
07:30but training has been recast
07:32for a war in which the power and horror
07:35of the bombs shown in this film
07:37will be increased a hundredfold.
07:42We have seen what the effects
07:44of an airburst atomic bomb,
07:45heat, radiation, and blast,
07:48might do to a typical British city.
07:50Let us now apply these effects
07:52to the population of that city
07:53and see what might happen to them.
07:57In the first place,
07:59if there had been no warning prior to the attack,
08:01and then with the assumption
08:03that a clear five-minute warning
08:04had been sounded,
08:06we will assume that the attack
08:07is in daylight
08:08and the weather is fine,
08:10except for the usual industrial haze
08:12that hangs over a city.
08:16You remember that in measuring
08:17the effect of an atom bomb,
08:19the point directly below the burst
08:20is known as ground zero.
08:23We will now take a factory
08:25situated at a point
08:26a quarter of a mile away
08:27from ground zero.
08:38It's nearly time for the shift
08:39to change over,
08:41and the workers are hanging about outside.
08:45Nearby is the administrative block
08:46of modern steel girder construction.
08:50At ground floor level
08:51is one of the secretaries
08:53standing near a window.
08:54Suddenly and without any warning,
08:56an atomic bomb bursts
08:581,000 feet in the air
08:59and about a quarter of a mile away.
09:02These people are all killed.
09:04In theory, they have died
09:05three times over.
09:07Firstly, from heat flash.
09:10It would have killed them instantly
09:12and their bodies will be charred.
09:15Secondly, they will have received
09:17a lethal dose of gamma rays
09:19and their bodies may be contaminated
09:21by fission products.
09:25And thirdly,
09:26they will be crushed under the debris.
09:28And now the secretary.
09:31As she is in an office
09:33on the far side of the block
09:34from the explosion,
09:35she is shielded from the heat flash.
09:39There are several floors above her
09:41and the thickness of another building
09:43at the back,
09:43say three or four feet of concrete in all.
09:46That should be sufficient to protect her
09:48from a lethal dose of gamma rays.
09:50So she is protected
09:51from the first two effects
09:52that kill the workers out in the open.
09:56But she will be killed
09:57by the effects of blast.
10:00At a quarter of a mile
10:01from ground zero,
10:02a modern steel framed block
10:04will be largely destroyed.
10:06But these bombs
10:08have only a fraction
10:09of the power of the hydrogen bomb.
10:19The new bomb
10:20and the jet engine,
10:22a combination
10:23which now shadows
10:24the history of civilization.
10:26The new engine
10:27came pat on its cue
10:29with pistons and air screws
10:30nearly at their limits.
10:32Overnight,
10:33the equation of defense
10:34was unbalanced.
10:35The measure of the power of the air
10:37is that it has grown
10:39in 35 years
10:40from the tactical support
10:41of the charge
10:42of the light brigade
10:43to the potential destroyer
10:45of the world.
10:50Theoretical attack
10:51is now from aircraft
10:52powered by a thrust
10:54hitherto undreamt of.
10:56The immediate need
10:58was defensive
10:58for new fighters,
11:00fighters to outpace sound.
11:02Here's a Hawker Hunter
11:03taking off now.
11:05This single-seat fighter
11:06is the latest
11:07of a long line of fighters
11:09designed by Sir Sidney Camp.
11:10It's now in production
11:12for the Royal Air Force.
11:15Here's the Fallen Mage
11:17designed by W.E.W. Petter
11:19as a prototype
11:20for the supersonic net.
11:22A small aircraft
11:23but a big idea.
11:28This Delta aircraft
11:30is the Gloucester Javelin,
11:31a twin-jet fighter
11:33carrying full radar
11:34for night
11:35and all weather work.
11:38In spite of its unusual shape,
11:41it handles
11:41like a conventional airplane.
11:46And here's another
11:48twin-engine jet fighter,
11:49the De Havilland 1-1-0,
11:51now on order
11:52to the Royal Navy.
11:53These are all aircraft
11:55developed
11:55for the high performance
11:57needed to intercept
11:58the jet bomber.
12:04But the new aircraft
12:06still demand
12:07a human brain
12:08behind the controls.
12:10No magic box
12:11can yet replace
12:12the pilot
12:13and the human body
12:14has to be trained
12:15to new endurance.
12:23The battleground
12:24is now 50,000 feet
12:26above the Earth.
12:27The speed of it
12:28is measured
12:28not in miles an hour
12:29but in mark numbers.
12:31This is the stuff
12:32of science fiction,
12:34grown in 10 years
12:35from a warfare
12:36which now seems
12:37an age of time ago.
12:50Our new fighters
12:51are really
12:52but a first step
12:53in a fresh conquest
12:54of the air.
12:56To their designers
12:57was given the task
12:58of providing
12:59maneuverable,
13:00controllable
13:01weapon-carrying platforms
13:02fit to fight
13:04at heights
13:04and at speeds
13:05of which we still
13:06know little.
13:06A few minutes
13:08to climb,
13:08a few seconds
13:09to close a bomber
13:10at a combined speed
13:11of some 1,300 miles an hour
13:13and a split second
13:14to attack.
13:16Only radar
13:17of great range
13:18and accuracy
13:18can give our fighters
13:19a chance.
13:21The days of mass raids
13:22are over
13:23but a hundred jet bombers
13:24can do what was once
13:26the work of thousands.
13:28Any one of any hundred
13:29may carry
13:30a hydrogen bomb.
13:31They must all
13:32be plotted.
13:33They must all
13:34be shot down.
13:37A split second
13:38to attack
13:39and it's an attack
13:40which must have
13:4280 to 90%
13:43more certainty
13:44in its kill
13:45than has ever been
13:46achieved in the air
13:47before.
13:48The Royal Navy too
13:49must have new jets
13:51and new techniques
13:52to use them,
13:52the steam catapult
13:53to get them airborne.
13:56For over the sea
13:57the problem
13:58is just the same
13:59and much of the air
14:01we depend on
14:02lies over the sea.
14:11Angled decks
14:12and mirror landing sites
14:14get the jets down again.
14:19Angled decks
14:20which allow a pilot
14:22a clear overrun
14:23should he want to
14:24re-judge his approach.
14:28The fleet air arm planes
14:30must be as fast
14:31as their shore-based
14:32counterparts.
14:33They must be fit
14:34to meet the same enemy.
14:37Aerodromes
14:38which can go
14:39to the furthest seas.
14:40Aircraft
14:41which while keeping
14:42performance
14:42can somehow
14:43get range
14:44and endurance
14:44and win us
14:45a handful of seconds
14:46of time.
14:47These are the things
14:48the costly
14:49and intricate things
14:50for which we must strive.
14:56Refuelling in flight
14:57is one of the many
14:58devices tried
14:59to cheat
15:00the fuel-hungerness
15:01of the new jet power.
15:28And all the time
15:29there must be
15:30research.
15:32This, the vertical
15:33take-off
15:34flying bedstead
15:35reminds us
15:36that in many ways
15:37we are still
15:38in the Wright-Brothers
15:40stage
15:40of this
15:41the new aviation.
16:03But fighter defense
16:04is only part
16:05of the answer.
16:06Throughout the
16:07western world
16:07new bases have been
16:08built for long-range
16:09bombers.
16:10strategic bombing
16:11or the threat
16:12of it
16:12is still
16:13the heart
16:13of air power.
16:25Runways are longer
16:26bombers fly faster
16:28and further
16:29bombs are more
16:30terrible
16:31yet the intent
16:32behind them
16:32is not to win
16:33another war
16:34but to prevent it.
16:54American long-range bombers
16:55stand by in Britain
16:57to back the NATO forces
16:58with an international
16:59riot squad.
17:05for allied commanders
17:06agree that our
17:07first line of defense
17:08must be a bomber force
17:10to be held ready
17:11as a deterrent
17:12to any would-be
17:13aggressor.
17:25the war
17:25before
17:25will be
17:26in ca
17:26the end
17:26of the
17:26war
17:26in the
17:26weather
17:26in the
17:26all
17:27and
17:31in the
17:43to the
17:49THE END
18:17For this strategic force, Britain is building new bombers, bred in the tradition of the Vimy and the Lancaster, the
18:24V-Bombers.
18:25They can carry their deadly load half across the world at near the speed of sound.
18:30The Valiant.
18:41And the victor.
19:04And the Vulcan.
19:24In these rest our present hopes of enforcing peace.
19:29That the world may yet survive under a Pax Atomica.
19:39Behind the problem of the present, which is still a fighter versus bomber war, there is the shadow of the
19:46missile.
19:47The push-button war, not yet reached but advancing.
19:51The shadow of war by machine against machine.
19:55All the world's great aircraft establishments are using their best research brains on this business of making robots to stand
20:03the stresses the human body can never stand.
20:18At secret places on our coasts, the early missiles took us on the first steps which led to the great
20:24new weapon range at Woomera.
20:32Here in what was once a desert, men now live remote amidst equipment which serves the new science and the
20:39new ways of war.
20:49These are pictures of early British experiments.
20:52The beginnings of the new defense and of the new attack.
20:57The missile in all its forms.
21:12This is the logical end of air power.
21:16The cold inhumanity of robot against robot.
21:19A Frankenstein in 40 years.
21:42In America, as in Australia and Britain, the guided missile has grown from prophecy to fact.
21:49These things exist.
22:23These things exist and work.
22:30They find and hit their quarry.
22:32They can be launched from the ground or from ships at sea.
22:43This is the interceptor of the future, controlled by radio towards the pilotless plane, which is its target.
22:55Other missiles can be fired from planes in flight.
23:01Find their own way to the target, weave in and close for the kill.
23:14We are learning a new language of war.
23:17We are learning a new language of war.
23:17Three, two, one, fire.
23:19Litany is intoned time after time, month after month, year after year.
23:25The doomed, unpiloted target is tracked and followed.
23:29Our hopes of holding our own in the air increase as techniques improve and the kills mount up.
23:52This is the work of a small defensive missile, but behind the burning wreckage of one machine lies a greater
23:59threat of the long-range rocket with atomic warhead.
24:09Here is a shadow that hangs above our world.
24:12Our fears, suspicions, nightmares of the future are all held in this picture of our shrunken earth.
24:22From here we can see the main centers of human life.
24:25America, Europe, Asia, gathered in close, in range of one another.
24:34We push the boundaries of our world and of our knowledge further and further into the unknown.
24:40And to these limits we carry our quarrels and our armament.
24:50Even on the polar camp, the air bases are built, the runway is laid, the machinery of flight installed.
25:15By airliner or by warplane, New York and Moscow, London and Peking are only a few hours' flight apart by
25:24this frozen route.
25:27But whether this is to be a new link between us, or our last battlefield, depends not on the machines
25:34we fly, but on ourselves.
25:42This, then, is the air plan under which we live. This is the roof of our world.
25:47We are all neighbors in a cold ring, and our future lies not in the hands of science, but in
25:53the hearts of men.
25:56Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become a sounding
26:02brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
26:04And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
26:10and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
26:26And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three.
26:32But the greatest of these is charity.
26:45The first is charity.
26:47The first is charity.
26:48The first is charity.
26:54The third is charity.
27:07THE END
27:30THE END