“ STEPPING STONES TO TOKYO “ 1942-1945 U.S. NAVY WWII PACIFIC CAMPAIGN ISLAND HOPPING 96155

Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website “Stepping Stones to Tokyo” (1945) is a black-and-white United States Navy training film produced for the Bureau of Aeronautics Production Division by Pathe News, Inc. and distributed by the Industrial Incentive Division. The film chronicles the expansion of sea and air naval power over the course of World War II and walks the viewer through the Navy’s strategy in the Pacific Theatre. The film features numerous shots and footage of various WWII-era aircraft such as the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, B-29 Superfortress, Grumman TBF Avenger, and Grumman F4F Wildcat among others. The film also discusses the JATO (jet assisted take off) method which allowed aircraft to take off faster within short distances. Film opening credits, U.S. Navy seal (0:07-0:36). Footage opens to fleet of ships or task force in the Pacific (0:37). Animation, aerial view of globe centering Eastern Asia i.e. China, Japan; US goal to clear path to China west of Mariana Islands as part of strategy against Imperial Japanese Army (0:49). Footage from The Battle of the Java Sea (Dec. 1942) as Dutch destroyed oil wells and refineries in Indonesia, however, Japanese rebuilt them and added oil of Java and Sumatra (1:07). Consolidated B-24 Liberator in the sky (1:28). POV footage from Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dropping artillery on Japanese harbor shipping in Pacific (1:33). View of American SB2C dropping bombs on Japanese-held Indonesian oil field (1:55). View of Consolidated B-24 Liberator dropping bombs (2:14). Return to animated globe, US Navy aerial bombardment in North Pacific (2:22). Aerial view of Wake Island (2:28). Close-up airborne SB2C, streams of tracer bullets raining down on supply ships from Yokohama and Osaka (2:38). Return to animated globe, US Navy closing in on Japan itself (3:08). Some combat units of Twentieth Air Force move into bases on mainland China (1944); B-29 Superfortress takes off from base (3:17). Local Chinese men clear paths for airstrip by hand using shovels (3:33). General Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers and later 14th Air Force shakes hands with and congratulates the crews at base (3:38). Wall made out of 100 octane gasoline containers in foreground, B-29 Superfortress parked on tarmac in background (3:50). JATO: Two men unload rocket motor for wood crate and attach to underside of plane (4:08). Grumman TBF Avenger takes off using JATO method (5:00). Grumman F4F Wildcat takes off using JATO method (5:13). Map ft. China, Japan, Australia, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Pacific Ocean etc; After battle of Saipan and Guam strategy focuses on the Philippines (5:24). Roosevelt and Churchill at first Quebec Conference (1944) (5:34). Amphibious tanks, other amphibious landing craft make their way to shores of Philippine Islands as the landings begin at Leyte Gulf (5:58). American Marines in dug out ditch after landing, moment of rest and reprieve (6:46). Men carry out prayer before battle, led by priest in makeshift “church area” denoted by cross made from tied sticks (7:00). Pilots hurriedly run towards planes on pitching carrier deck, prepare for take off (7:14). LSO directs planes for landing on aircraft carrier; Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat landing, montage of other aircraft landing on carrier ship (8:12). Closing credits (8:52). Film ends (9:00). Motion picture films don’t last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we’ve worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you’d like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink 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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit