The Army Air Corps produced this film to link navigational training with Air Corps effectivenes in the Coast Defense role. The film was likely shot in the summer of 1935 and features the Advanced Air Navigation Unit at Rockwell Field, California that supported the work of the Frontier Defense Research Unit. This school was the first dedicated military program in the United States dedicated to teaching advanced air navigation. Harold Gatty, the Air Corps' Senior Navigational Engineer provided advancedtutorials, and appears in the film giving classroom instruction. Other instructors included Norris Harbold and Thomas Thurlow who were responsible for creating the massive wartime navigation program that ultimately trained over 50,000 dedicated navigators for the Army Air Forces in World War II and which became the basis for Cold War Air Force instruction. The school depicted here ultimately became part of the 19th Bomb Group that carried on the work.
Caption:
Length: 43 Minutes, 51 Seconds
Type: Film
Image Date: 1938
Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
