Author Topic: American made aircraft for the war in France  (Read 1291 times)

Offline Rookie

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American made aircraft for the war in France
« on: August 03, 2022, 02:53:35 AM »
I found this on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVG0-sbx3wA)

The captions between quotation marks are from the film, the captions between square brackets are my comments.

I hope you like it.

Willem

"To fill the skies of France with fighting aircraft -- that was America's tremendous task. What we did and what we have accomplished of that task is here fully revealed for the first time.


"Scenes made at the airplane factories in Elisabeth, N.J,. Buffalo, Detroit and Dayton, Ohio."

00.01   [Logging spruce]
02:49   "Only flawless wood becomes part of an airplane."
03.42   "The qualified spruce is seasoned by a process recently perfected bu the U.S. Bureau of Forestry. To provide the needed supply, 1.000.000 feet must be kept in the kiln at all times."
03:55   "After ten days the doors of the kilns roll back and the seasoned lumber is trundled to the equalizing sheds."
07:11   "In the fashioning of the many small metal parts women have proved very skillful and are doing much of the work."
09:29   "Flawless spruce long enough for wing beams is rare, Therefore beams often are sliced. The joints are grooved to give the glue the maximum grip."
09:57   "THE WING BEAMS -- These main supports of the wings are hollowed out on a routing machine to make them lighter without loss of strength."
10:13   [Strength tests]
12:14   "The wing-coverings are of fine Irish linen and 150 yards are used for each plane."
13:08   "Stitching the ribs. An airplane is supported by suction, not pressure, and were it not for the stitches, the covering would be torn from the wings."
13:33   "Frayed tape is stitched over the stitching."
13:47   "The wings are coated with hardening chemical that shrinks the tough linen to drum tightness."
14:05   "The insignia of the U.S. Air Service is applied by a process of transfer ink."
15:05   [The struts and rigging are assembled between the wings BEFORE they are attached to the aircraft.]
16:49   "America will have a host of battle-planes like these that are shown to you in the making."
18:42   [All parts are being assembled.]
21:17   [Scarf ring and machine-guns are mounted.]
21:40   [Covering the fuselage with linen.]
22:14   [Rudder frame is being sprayed.]
22:25   [Serial on fin is partly legible.]
22:43   [Landing gear assembly.]
24:03   "The Liberty Motor, heart of the American Eagle, which develops one horsepower for every two pounds weight, making it the most powerful motor in the world."
25:50   [Engine cowl being formed.]
27:02   [Radiator and cowling being mounted.]
27:32   [Instrument panel being assembled.]
28:05   "Pilot and observer can only talk to each other only by a special telephone and a wireless set gives communications to the ground."
28:39   [The making of the propeller.]
28:58   "The blades are balanced in the rough before they are put together."
29:20   "This profiling machine, which in peace times is used to carve out genuine antiques, now makes four propellers at once accurate to a thousandth of an inch."
30:50   "Propellers are finally finished by hand. Shavings as thin as a piece of tissue paper are scraped off to pare them down to accurate gauge."
31:52   "The process of balancing now begins. The blades, resting on a knife edge, revolve on a hardened steel axle."
32:07   "The balancing perfect, a breath of air will turn the heavy blades."
33:00   [Wing fitted and final rigging]
33:38   [Test flight]
34:02   "Immediately on its return from the test flight the plane is taken apart for packing and shipment."
35:41   "Handley-Page bombing machine, the Made-in-America flying giant, which carries destruction by the ton."
35:54   [The Langley was the first Handley Page O/400 built in the U.S. by the Standard Aircraft Company in 1918]
37:13   "The Made-in-America Caproni, another giant of the air."
46:31   "The U.S. Hydroplane - The H-S-I-L."
   

Offline rhwinter

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Re: American made aircraft for the war in France
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2022, 06:17:55 PM »
That's interesting, thank you, Rookie!