WINNING YOUR WINGS

[Music] [Music] lying [Music] oh he looks like I'm back in the movies again nothing well as a matter of fact I like to do some talking good don't go away and I get this thing off now it isn't as if it was a chore for me to talk to you because I want to speak on my favorite subject the Army Air Forces I can't speak from long experience I've only been on the service a year but I've learned a lot about what the Air Force's have to offer that's what I want to talk to you about right now the greatest mass mobilization in the history of the world's taken place men from cities towns farms married men and single men brothers sweethearts husbands fathers and sons businessmen and workers from the factories and students from colleges and high schools all over America they're mobilizing joining up or having their numbers pulled out of fish ball and this war we're fighting today and tomorrow and the next day until we win is a war of the air the whole world knows that our factories know that so interceptors pursuit ships light bombers medium bombers and flying fortresses are rolling out of those factories 65,000 fighting planes this year a hundred thousand fighting planes next year and to keep them flying two million men now now that's where you come in the Army Air Forces need 15,000 captain's 40,000 lieutenants 35,000 flying sergeants how about it well let's talk it over I'll make no mistake about this thing fellas we're all gonna be in this war soon sooner than a lot of you realize and nearly all the officers of this great Army Air Force that were there building today are gonna be drawn from the ranks of you men from high schools and colleges those who join as aviation cadets now well now before I go any further are there any questions yes sir I've got a question okay shoot well I'd like to join up but I've got about a year college left I'd kind of like to get that diploma well why not the Air Forces want you to get your diploma fellows like yourself either in high school or college can enroll in the Air Force Reserve continue with your studies and at the end of the term or when you get your diploma you'll be taken in as a regular cadet if you pledge now well thanks okay don't mention it hey I'd like to make the Air Force but I'm no brain storm my grades aren't exactly what they should be I hear it's tough to get in not anymore it is and that blocked letter you're sporting that tells me a lot basketball football baseball or some activity where coordination control and the ability to work together with the rest of the team that's that's important the same in the Air Force they're one big team and they need men who can pull together and play the game so you and your teammates should be ascension this the biggest all-american team we were had now here's the fellow who works in a filling station I know he's got something special on his mind yeah you know I've been interested in the Air Forces for quite a while well I'm 26 years old and got a wife have another chance for too much education what about me well from where I'm standing you look like you're ready to sprout wings any my you see formal education is no longer a basis for determining a man's intelligence in the Air Force and married or not you'll receive $75 each month while training and board and lodging and all the necessary uniforms and equipment and you have as much chance as the next fellow of becoming one of those 15,000 captain's and 40,000 lieutenants or 35,000 flying sergeants I was telling you about yeah say that sounds great I think I'll gonna for my wife I'd like to get something straight in my mind I'm one of those high school students you've been talking about but I'm not old enough I wasn't planning on going to college though well where does that leave me as far as the Air Force is concerned by the you sound like the forgotten man but if you're close to 18 and you're over five feet in altitude you can be one of us just as quickly as anybody else okay just make out that application for the Air Force Reserve now your physical examination well that's not gonna be so tough if you're an average guy I'm normally healthy yeah you'll make the grade all right so one day you say goodbye to mother and dad I'm pretty proud and happy too especially dad is the offenders are about to bust yeah you say goodbye to sister Jane and maybe aunt Minnie oh yeah Uncle Ben and brother joy those first few steps down the walk or the beginning of a great adventure full hug but wait just wait a minute now I'm gonna forget that sweet little bit of something next door and you're on the train with a lot of other fellas probably many from your own school or neighborhood oh yeah I forgot to say Uncle Sam bought your ticket and your destination reads any one of a number of reception centers maybe in California maybe down in Texas it's here that lasting friendships are made because you and your teammates are aiming for the same goal that big beautiful wonderful Vee that spells victory and now it begins now here's a sort of a composite picture of what happens to you in the first few weeks of your aviation cadet training you find your room meet your roommate get a haircut army style and try on a new pair shoes and a new uniform that really fits and time to eat shops are on the fire eat with a few hundred other guys just as hungry as you are in ground school officers with years of experience patiently explain what makes them fly and then one day when class is over you get all rigged out and what the well-dressed Birdman will wear you like quite a guy as you meet your flying instructor but always in your memory will be the thrill of that first beautiful morning when you took off for the first time now what you're gonna see next isn't considered exactly a part of the regular training course look you're a chump if you don't include it in your curriculum [Music] and you find out the effect those shiny little wings have on a gal and it's phenomenal and now mister take the air and he did now time has marched on here you are cruising along in a BT that's basic trainer to you and twisting your tail into a few acrobatics and loops and barrel rolls and snap throws some fun and a few more weeks roll by you find yourself and still another plane an advanced trainer this time yes indeed you're really getting up in the world at the rate of nearly 200 miles an hour but you think this is something and I just wait Paula shake hands with mr. b-17 and a few of his big brothers watch out now he's tough those four motors roaring through the sky like a thunderstorm they can't fool with them American workmen the finest master mechanics in the world put those motors together made him live made him breathe made him roar there are a whole army of workmen designers and Jenny and just plain guys who wanted to do something for the country they put that b-17 together a few thousand of these babies are win this war for us and a few thousand guys like you and they're flying and remember we said something about a team well nine men are inside that plane each with an important job to do so let's go and take a look around let's meet the team yes sir nine fellows like yourself working together as closely coordinated as a precision watch now get this straight the pilot is not the most important feller inside this plane all nine members of the crew are equally important for example the pilot and the copilot can take the plane off the ground and set it back down again but where would they be without the navigator I'll meet him the gentleman sitting right there his pencils calculators he's responsible for getting the giant bomber to its destination and back again you might like his job now this fellas a second lieutenant draws two hundred and forty five dollars each month and although he was good at mathematics he didn't graduate from college but he learned that the Air Forces could use his talents now he's a necessary part of the team and now let's go up into the nose a mr. b-17 and meet somebody who has an important job in that department this is the Bombardier the boy who doesn't miss you see flying the plane is wasted motion unless this lad hits the target on the noggin the finest pilots in the Air Force would be behind the eight-ball if the Bombardier couldn't hit straight and he's a full-fledged commissioned officer - where's his wings drawers the same pay as the pilot of the copilot now back in the main body of the plane we've got some more important positions this fella is the number one engineer he keeps the motors turning and the thousands of working parts all through the bomber inspected and in repair and then comes the radio operator who keeps the bomber in constant communication with its home base and the photographer who keeps a photographic record of what takes place on the earth below while the Bombers on its mission sort of an official scorekeeper checking up for future reference all the remaining members of the flight crew are number two engineer and number two radio man so you see being in the Air Forces isn't all piloting or all navigating or all bomba daring it's teamwork and each member of the team is just as important as the next one now listen it takes 38 men on the ground to keep this bomber in the air so let's go downstairs and meet the ground force jobs why there's one to fit every kind of fellow who wants to plan this all-american team meet the armament officer he's in charge of 12 bombers more or less like the one we just looked over it's his job to see that the bombs are loaded in the machine guns and a general all-around check up see that bar in his shoulders he ranks just the same as the pilot or the copilot or the navigator or the Bombardier and to get this fellows Commission a little engineering or physics and college would be a great help and there's a follow job takes a backseat to nobody the Communications Officer those bombing and fighting planes up there they depend on his work he's part of the team and how does it funnel get a sign like that on his door well engineering officer captain C D Burns had three years of college he studied aerodynamics on those qualifications quickly awarded him his commission he's in charge of all mechanical details and has a full crew of technically trained enlisted men to supervise now another office yep then you'll get those gold bars all right after 30 weeks free training and some leading technological institute photographers and chemists well there's a spot for you on the team in charge of one of the hundreds of fixed or mobile photographic laboratories the Air Force must have this job to get you a commission as an officer so whether you're flying a plane as a pilot or a co-pilot charting its course as a navigator acting as Bombardier or in any one of the many technical jobs in the air on the ground wherever it is in the United States Army Air Forces you're part of a team now remember that so listen to the roar of those motors young men of America and heed their call soon the skies will be filled with the greatest air Armada the world has ever seen our own army air forces the best planes ever built 65,000 planes this year 100,000 more next year that's why we'll lick the axis and that's how we'll lick the axis your commission on the air forces is waiting you don't have to have a diploma to become an officer join now on the enlistment reserve basis and then finish your present school or college term before you're called upon for actual duty if you're between the ages of 18 and 26 with a good bill of health you can make as high as two hundred and forty-five dollars a month and with a bonus of $500 for each year of service in the Air Forces or if you become one of those 15,000 captain's we need right away you'll receive four hundred and thirty dollars a month while you serve your country and you'll be well trained for a good job in civilian life when this war is won now here's another thing it's kind of hard to explain but believe you me it's important you see while you're getting all this wonderful technical training in the Air Forces you're learning about other things too things that are gonna pay off and big dividends you're learning to be alert you're learning how to handle man on how to do that job with a lot of pride yeah you're learning about courage too but you'll know what I mean and I hope soon because the Air Forces are proud to think that you might be with them and by the time you finish your training America will have overwhelming superiority in the air you see the way the Air Force's feel about it they're fighting and they're flying for the safety of our people at home our mothers and fathers and our sisters and brothers and to keep the terrible war of destruction that swept Poland and Belgium and Holland blasted homes of good people in London and Coventry and maimed hundreds of innocent women and children in Nanking and Burma and Bataan Peninsula and Pearl Harbor to keep that war from our own Shores our cities in our homes the roar of a hundred thousand motors sing their song and there's a song of freedom and their wings outstretched in the cause of decency and each spinning prop drones and vengeance against those who would destroy our way of life somebody's gotta fire a lot of somebody's have got a flyer now this is your place this is where you'll serve America best young men of America your futures in the sky your wings are waiting [Music]