In the 1930s, military drills weren't just for top-secret bases. No, they occurred right above New York City, where 672 fighter pilots once convened to lay smoke screens and drop fake bombs over Wall Street.
In 2009, Air Force One and two F-16 fighters scheduled a flyover of New York City. What happened? Offices were evacuated and folks generally flipped their shit. Can you imagine 600+ jets weaving through skyscrapers, dropping fake bombs as if some invisible King Kong was running amok? And this was back in the days when your grandparents walked uphill in the snow both ways to the asbestos handkerchief factory. When people in that epoch got drunk, they'd see pink elephants. And it was during The Great Depression - everyone was tanked 24/7! It must've been pandemonium.
Says the article in the 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics:
It is not just an impressive aerial parade-it marks the end of that glamorous fighting era of the World War in which the flying heroes were the Rickenbackers, Guynemers, and Bishops, famous aces of individual combat. Those days are gone forever. The aerial heroes of future wars will be flying generals who direct thousands of plane units under their command with the skill of a Pershing or a Foch.
You can read more about the US military's "sham war" drill here.
[Modern Mechanics (Jul, 1931) via Modern Mechanix]