WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 144 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 144 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 144
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'INDIA.' Allied Supreme Commander in South East Asia Lord Louis Mountbatten waits at an unidentified Indian airfield for the arrival of Generalissimo and Mrs Chiang Kai-shek. A C-54 Douglas Skymaster transport aircraft of the United States (US) Air Transport Command taxies to a halt and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife negotiate the steep disembarkation ladder. Lord Mountbatten greets Mrs Chiang, the trio are later shown walking and chatting informally. The Generalissimo reviews Chinese Nationalist troops at Ramgarh, watching M3 Stuart light tanks on manoeuvres. II. 'RADIO IN WAR.' An item on the recruitment and training of boys drawn from the families of various Allied nationalities resident in the Middle East. Views of a desert encampment near Giza show the boy recruits reading magazines and polishing their boots. The boys receive initial training in drill before receiving training in the more technical aspects of the work of the Royal Corps of Signals (RCS). Bare chested boy recruits undertake an assault course. The boys are shown receiving instruction on the testing of accumulators and on line work where they practice erecting wires on miniature telegraph poles. An RCS sergeant instructs the boys in the art of message taking using a blackboard. Later, the boy recruits try out Morse telegraphy as mobile units, operating in the desert from the back of soft-skins. The item continues with coverage of the training of Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF) members in the use of radio direction finding equipment (RDF/RADAR). WAAAF members, in the initial stages of their training, solder electrical terminals at work benches. Preliminary RDF training completed, the WAAAFs graduate to a mobile unit, that uses a soft-skin as a flatbed for the RDF equipment. A group of WAAAF RDF trainees climb into a waiting Avro Anson for practical training. A WAAAF is shown using RDF equipment to guide a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Bristol Beaufort bomber crew safely back to base. III. 'THE AZORES.' Map shows the strategic position of the Azores group of islands (Portuguese) in the Atlantic. The commentary outlines the arrival of British forces at the Azores, due to the airfield leasing agreements (October 12 1943 ?) made between the British and Portuguese governments enabling RAF aircraft to extend their operational range across the Atlantic Ocean. A Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Fairey Swordfish torpedo aircraft takes off from an unidentified escort carrier. Rear-Admiral Holt and Air Vice Marshal Brome are shown briefly. Aerial views of Angra and Terceira Island follow. Rear-Admiral Holt and Air Vice Marshal Brome meet the Portuguese civil and military governors of the islands (Senor da Silva and Brigadier Barboza ?). 100-octane aircraft fuel is off-loaded onto a jetty from a berthed merchant ship. RAF personnel enjoy tea and cigarettes on their arrival at a tented encampment. RAF engineering teams and Portuguese civilian workers construct an airfield on the Azores using caterpillar tractors, pneumatic drills and lots of manpower. An RAF Supermarine Spitfire (Mk V ?) fighter aircraft takes off. Aerial footage shows a newly completed airfield with RAF Coastal Command Boeing B-17 Mk IIA Flying Fortress bomber aircraft dispersed on its perimeter. A Coastal Command B-17 overflies an unidentified airfield somewhere on the Azores.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 144
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-02-07
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Keating, Rex1910-02-142005-01British newsreel commentator, WW2 period (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Mountbatten, Louis (Earl) (person) Chiang Kai-shek (person) Chiang Mayling Soong (person) British Army, Royal Corps of Signals (regiment/service) Royal Australian Air Force, Women's Auxiliary Air Force (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: training, British (object name) training, Australian air - specialist: radio operators (object name) delegations, Chinese international - state (object name) operations, Allied military - harbour (object name) operations, Allied military - preparation (object name) India (geography) Egypt (geography) Azores (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 896 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 144

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