Naval Aviation: Angle of Attack

A two-part documentary series exploring the development of naval aviation in the United States. The series begins by following young men and women on their way to 'earning their wings'. In a rigorous course of instruction, they learn to take off and land a supersonic aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. Eugene Ely first attempted the death-defying feat in 1911 and this episode covers the period from then until the conclusion of World War II and the US victory in the Pacific, when carrier aviation reigned supreme. However, US Naval Aviation would soon face a threat to its existence - not from an enemy source, but from a competing technology - the nuclear bomb. Part 1 of 2.