https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/b3c6ba3c-b7db-4d3c-b501-02e288718fa7 The United States Air Force presents “The Air Force Story: Chapter VI Prelude to War 1937-1939.” The black-and-white film covers events prior to World War II, starting with a B-17 Flying Fortress “Good Will” tour of South America in February 1938. (Among those on the tour was General Curtis LeMay, who is shown at mark 02:25). Adolf Hitler’s role in air power in Germany is discussed starting at mark 03:05, as we see scenes of “glider clubs for Hitler Youth and flying sports clubs for adults, as we’re minded how Hitler ignored the Treaty of Versailles and authorized a fully developed German Air Force (or Luftwaffe). At mark 04:05, we see images of German troops marching into Austria in 1938, a prelude to World War II, as we as scenes of Hitler himself. At mark 04:17, we see a scene with Major General Frank Andrews, one of the founders of the United States Army Air Forces (which developed into the US Air Force) and learn more about Air Force training maneuvers prior to WW2, including a “mock attack” on Farmingdale, New York and nearby Mitchell Field, as discussed near mark 05:00. We catch glimpses of a Douglas B-19 Bolo medium bomber and Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighters flying over New York. The film introduces General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold (who would become the only five-star general in Air Force history) at mark 06:30 upon his promotion to Chief of the Air Corps in September 1938. Moments later the story switches to the signing of the Munich Agreement — a settlement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation “Sudetenland” was coined. There is also a scene of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his famous “Peace in our time” quote. Mark 07:30 begins with a discussion of the expansion of the Air Corps in 1939 to provide the United States protection in case of attack, and the intense training of those pilots in aircraft such as the North American AT-6 Texan, shown at mark 11:36. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWC97C9l8E0 Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Fri, 12 Jun 2026 03:25:29 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/b3c6ba3c-b7db-4d3c-b501-02e288718fa7 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.