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U.S. Army Air ForcesTarget Invisible (ca. 1945)

Illustrates the use of radar on a dramatized mission over Japan.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: U.S. Army Air Forces
Sponsor: U.S. Army Air Forces
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: World War II: Radar; World War II: Japan; World War II: Army Air Forces

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: gnsaxton - - January 17, 2008
Subject: Who was that masked man?
The voice of the radar operator sounds like Brace Beamer;the radio actor who played the Lone Ranger on WXYZ 1270 Am during the 1940's-1950's.I couldn't see any credits for the actors,presumably they're members of the Union.Brace Beamer had a horse Farm in Oxford,Michigan and would commute 30 miles to the studio for the show.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - July 3, 2005
Subject: Just Kidding! Ha! Ha!
Interesting little film that for 4/5 of itÃÂs running time, is all about the very interesting subject about the use of radar when dropping bombs during the war, and then at the last moment, a guy comes on and basically says ÃÂfooled you!ÃÂ and asks us to buy more war bonds!
Back to the radar part for a bit. I actually found this part to be quite interesting. We follow a bombing campaign from the briefing, where all of the people shown look totally hyped for combat. We then follow the radarman on the plane ÃÂa mysterious fellow who you didnÃÂt know much about, or the equipment he uses, until now.ÃÂ I never they held so much intrigue! A brief description of radar follows, and how theyÃÂll be giving the cue for any bomb, ÃÂincluding nuclearÃÂ. Which was surprising to me at the time, as I never knew they were divulging info about this at that time. Soon after, the bombs are dropped! Hoo-ray! Destroy all Japs!
The film suddenly, well stops, with Joe from the War Bomds department sitting at a desk saying, weÃÂve shown you this film to give you an idea of what itÃÂs like to be at war! The kids that were doing this are now at home now! They need the help of war bonds! So, what we have here, is a very very bad cheat. Sort of like Jam Handy saying one thing, but meaning another, but this seems a tiny bit more scummier and below the belt, especially coming from the armed forces.

Reviewer: BraddS - - March 13, 2005
Subject: Buy War Bonds
Twilight Zone-like film noir replete with Rod Serling-like narration apparently made in the immediate aftermath of WWII. This film starts out appearing to be an introduction to radar bombing, with the camera following the crew of a B-29 on a late-war mission over Japan. The radar operator seems to be responsible for navigation as well as target identification, and also has to call out speed and crosswind information to the real bombardier in the nose, who then presumably dials these into the Norden bombsite to line the plane up with the target for the final run. At the end of this little film-within-a-film, a smarmy Hollywood host dressed in a nicely tailored uniform comes on to "let us in on a little secret". All of us, including every man woman and child who bought bonds, won the war! So we should buy more bonds! Now! Aside from the last few minutes, which includes an unfortunate racist reference to the Japanese people from an actor who, despite his tough guy bravado, almost certainly never got closer to the war than the soundstage he is currently on, this is a well made little film.

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Illustrates the use of radar on a dramatized mission over Japan.


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