TESTCRAFT

Year Published: 1943

Format: 16mm

Description: One of a series of Army Air Force "Testcraft" films made by the First Motion Picture Unit to educate pilots, bomber crew gunners, and anti-aircraft gun crews, this animated movie presents a quiz showing Japanese and American aircraft. We don't have the key, but for example plane #1 appears to be a U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat, plane #2 a Bird Dog artillery spotting plane, and #3 either an AAF B-25 Mitchell bomber or possibly a Japanese "Betty". Films such as these were critical in preventing friendly fire incidents. Perhaps the most famous WWII film about the perils of friend or foe ID and friendly fire is "Recognition of the Japanese Zero" which you can find elsewhere on our channel at     • " RECOGNITION OF THE JAPANESE ZERO FI...   The film opens with a note instructing educators how to use the film and notifying them it was to come with an answer key either at the beginning of the film or the end (answer key is not included). Numbers appear just prior to a brief glimpse at the 30 aircraft (:36) and viewers were to write down their answers for the instructors to go over after. The first plane pictured is the F6F Hellcat fighter (1:29). A Curtiss manufactured aircraft is seen at (2:08) which may be the Curtiss P-60 judging by the shape of it’s nose. Another Curtiss manufactured plane is seen at (3:09) which is most likely the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk or the Curtiss SBC2 Helldiver, again judging by its nose shape and flat wings. The de Havilland DH-98 Mosquito appears at (3:20). The Boeing manufactured B-29 Superfortress is seen at (7:04). This is a four-engine propeller driven heavy bomber. These were the only aircrafts to have used nuclear weaponry in combat and later would drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Lockheed Ventura is pictured at (7:29) which had first entered combat in the Pacific theater in 1943.

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