Episode Descriptions

Episode I: The Early Years details the birth of American aviation — from the Wright Brothers’ earliest flights, through the turbulent era of the 1920s, culminating with the Great Depression.  The Early Years documents the captains of the aviation industry as young men as they design and construct planes for America’s effort in World War I, begin flying the mail in the 1920s, and develop the first passenger airlines.  Episode I concludes with the dramatic head-to-head rivalry between William Boeing and Donald Douglas, as the Boeing 247 and the Douglas DC-3 battle for command of the newly born commercial aviation industry.  Highlights include:

• Footage of the Wright Brothers’ first public demonstration in 1908 for the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, VA.
• Newly recovered footage of the Boeing workshops and factories (circa 1917-1918), as they build aircraft for America’s effort in World War I. 
• Newsreel footage of the 1924 U.S. Army Aviation Service “Around-the-World-Flight” in four Douglas World Cruisers.
• Donald Douglas’s reminiscence of witnessing, at the age of 16, the Wright Brothers’ first public demonstration of flight.

Episode II:  The War Years documents the 1930s & '40s, as the clouds of war gather over Europe.  With all of Europe a German stronghold by the summer of 1940 and Britain under attack, President Roosevelt calls on the captains of his aviation industry — declaring that America must now become “the Arsenal of Democracy.”  Under the leadership of Donald Douglas, the U.S. aviation industry unites to tackle the biggest production job in industrial history.  With Boeing, Douglas, and North American Aviation factories working around the clock, some of the most legendary military aircraft are produced in record time — giving the Allies air supremacy in both European and Pacific theaters and, ultimately, victory in World War II.  Highlights include:

• Newly discovered footage of WWII's most storied military operation: the 1942 Doolittle Tokyo Raid.
  
• Newly recovered 1940s newsreel footage, offering a rare glimpse inside the wartime factories at Boeing, Douglas, and North American Aviation.
  
• A 1940s Lowell Thomas-narrated newsreel of the legendary North American P-51 Mustang in the skies over Berlin.

Episode III: The Race to the Moon documents the Cold War era of the 1950s & '60s, as post-war America finds itself locked in an ideological struggle with the Soviet Union.  In 1957, the Soviet launch of Sputnik suddenly shifts the Cold War battlefield to space and heralds the decade-long Race to the Moon.  President Kennedy turns to the captains of his aviation industry — now in the autumn of their years — with the century’s greatest aerospace challenge.   Highlights include:

• Newly discovered footage documenting President Kennedy’s 1963 visit to McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, in celebration of the Mercury Space Program.
  
• Newly discovered footage of Astronaut John Glenn’s triumphant return, after orbiting the Earth, to share his achievement with the employees of McDonnell Aircraft.
  
• Photographs of the unknown 19-year-old Marilyn Monroe, modeling the cabin features of the new Douglas DC-6.
  
• Boeing Test Pilot Tex Johnston’s legendary barrel-roll of the Boeing 707 over Lake Washington during the 1955 Seattle SeaFair races.