This film reviews some of man's earliest attempts at powered flight, including the first successful flight of the Silver Dart by J.A.D. McCurdy. The first aerial combat of World War I; the first trans-Canada flight; the first trans-Atlantic crossing by Britain's giant dirigible, the R.100; the beginning of commercial aviation--all are recaptured in this fast-moving account of the time when the skies held man's greatest challenge. Part one of the Salute to Flight Series series.