WWII MARTIN B-26 MARAUDER BOMBING GROUP "ROUGH CUT" FOOTAGE (SILENT) RL10255

Description: Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm This silent reel of WWII footage appears to be a "rough cut" of a film made for the U.S. Army Air Forces. The film came from the collection of filmmaker Richard Lyford, and given the innovative editing style shown, it was likely directed and/or edited by him. (Lyford served with the First Motion Picture unit during WWII and later worked for Walt Disney. In 1950, he co-directed and edited The Titan: Story of Michelangelo, which won an Academy Award for documentary feature.) The footage focuses on an unidentified air group -- almost certainly the 344th Bomb group -- operating B-26 Martin Marauder bombers. Most of the film was likely shot in Tampa, Florida during training, but montage'd to look like it was shot in combat conditions. The film first shows a practice bombing campaign and then clashes against German fighters. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska and was first used in the Pacific Theater, Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe. By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tons) of bombs and had been used in combat by British, Free French and South African forces in addition to US units. In 1945, when B-26 production was halted, 5,266 had been built. The B-26 started the war with a terrible reputation due to the loss of dozens of crewmembers in training accidents, yet it finished the war with the lowest combat loss ratio of any of the American bombers due to its high speed and maneuverability. It's not clear precisely what unit is shown in the film, although several aircraft have VII on their nose, suggesting they might be part of the "VII Bombardment Group" or similar organization. Footage includes: :21 Aircraft landing gear in close up, hits runway as aircraft lands :35 airfield control and spotting tower at unknown airfield :52 B-26's on the ground being serviced, including one with tail 117670 1:08 B-26s on the tarmac with engine covers removed for servicing 1:12 Radial engine being serviced on a B-26, or possibly this is a new engine that has just been installed. 1:29 Mess hall at the air base, with crews being served with their mess kits 1:59 B-26 air to air, seen from above flying at low altitude over trees 2:07 B-26 pilot at the controls in flight 2:16 bomb bay doors opened, as seen from exterior aircraft - interesting shot that probably was taken on a ground stand? 2:20 shot looking into bomb bay from interior aircraft, bombardier looks into the eyepiece of the Norden bomb sight 2:38 Bombs away (note this footage was flipped by the editor) 2:51 Target practice ring as seen from above 3:07 Marauders flying in formation 3:11 Martin 250CE full-power turret, located forward to the waist gun and just aft of the rear bomb bay. 3:17 stock footage of German Bf-109 fighters on intercept 3:22 tail gunner shown at the ready, ready to fire a "burst" 3:25 waist gunner at the ready 3:40 simulated combat sequence with crews firing at enemy planes 4:03 German fighter plane is hit and on fire, close shot 4:14 Bombardier seen looking through the Norden bomb sight at target 4:18 Bombardier hits bomb release button and bombs away 4:32 Ground crew studies aspects of the aircraft's electrical (?) system 4:38 Ground crew loading bombs into aircraft 4:59 Gasoline truck fuels aircraft 5:36 Fresh .50 caliber rounds are loaded onto the airplane (Note: armament on the early planes consisted of two .30 caliber and two .50 caliber machine guns, later increased from six to twelve .50 caliber machine guns; this was done in the forward section so that the B-26 could perform strafing missions.) 5:43 nice shot of the rear gunner position showing twin machine gun 6:18 wheels up as the re-loaded plane is airborne 6:29 another bombing mission with good air to air shots 7:00 Dusk at the air base with the airport signal light visible 7:25 Presentation at the base using an overhead projector, showing officers and men getting briefed for the next mission 8:39 additional shots of mission prep 9:27 ground crew hand crank an engine to move oil into the cylinders 9:50 chock removed by ground crew after engine run-up 10:53 head-on shot ob B-26 about to take off down runway 11:06 tail #117703 visible on an aircraft on the runway 11:39 various take-offs as the air group forms up 11:59 shadow of an aircraft paints the ground as a plane flies at high speed and low altitude 12:23 additional shots of the full-power turret 12:35 shots of the pilot and bombardier in position 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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhPEuM5QCjM

Metadata Source:YouTube