AIR SUPPLY SCENES DURING CONFRONTATION IN BORNEO [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: AIR SUPPLY SCENES DURING CONFRONTATION IN BORNEO [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 6743
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY COLONEL FURSDON [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Compilation of short trims and offcuts record air dispatch supply drops over hilly jungle terrain in Sarawak and North Borneo during the Britain's campaign to protect her colonies from Indonesian aggression (1963-1966) Film shot by Lieutenant-Colonel Fursdon who set up Staff College course on supplying by air after joining operational crew on Borneo campaign and making film about the subject.
  • Description: The offcuts tend to be short (often a foot or less) and are of high quality, covering a wide number of subjects, military and general. However, the brevity of most of them makes them of little collective value. These have now been sifted and pruned, the remainder being compiled into 20 shots/sequences as below. Note that the shots in the compiled thematic sequences are not necessarily in chronological order. Sometimes, examples of the sequential numbers on the stock are given as an aid to seeing how the material may have been shot. Scene 1: 9 secs. British Army De Havilland Beaver spotter plane (XP818) prepares for take-off at rural airfield. Scene 2: 19 secs. Good shot of the RASC tank landing ship Maxwell Brander (in black livery) in dock at unidentified location in the Far East. Scene 3: 48 secs. Compilation of ground shots during paradrops. Landing site at rural location (Far East ?) – aircraft (Beverley) flies overhead and drops pallets of supplies by parachute. Pallets landing by the side of the rough airfield, edge of jungle in background. Beverley turns for another approach, and flies overhead (splice). It drops another pallet of supplies, which comes in to land. Scene 4: 30 secs. Compilation of aerial shots of paradrops. Views from rear door of Beverley in flight, giving an aerial view of pallets being parachuted. Landscape views; crewmen’s heads can be seen in frame looking over the rural vista. [Splice] Similar aerial views, possibly from a different aircraft, shows aerial views of a British airfield with helicopter park. [Splice] View from inside Beverley cockpit as it comes in to land. Scene 5: Additional views from rear of Beverley showing a supply drop over a remote (and very basic) airfield. (Sample stock number: 11595.) Scene 6: 20 secs. Another Paradrop over remote airfield; includes shot of loadmaster giving order to drop, followed by the pallet being pushed out of the rear door and parachuting down. (Sample stock number: 83225.) Scene 7: 10 secs. Wide shot of cockpit of Beverley in flight over mountains, with view of pilot. (Better than previous shot.) (Sample stock number: 97498.) Scene 8: 43 secs. Views from rear door of Beverley in flight over jungle, showing hills, dense foliage and two rivers. (Sample stock number: 97455.) [Splice] Further aerials shots of jungle, small rural settlements and river ((Sample stock number – 97460 – shows that these two trims are from the same reel). Scene 9: 9 secs. Ground view in jungle: Beverley flies overhead and drops two lots of supplies which land on the outskirts of a small village (grass huts etc). (Sample stock number: 91917.) Scene 10: 31 secs. Helicopter flies over jungle and comes in to land as barechested British soldiers watch. [Splice] Same helicopter, shot from a different viewpoint, takes off. (Sample stock number: 83702.) Scene 11: 20 secs. Setting up of a supply dump by British troops beside a small jungle village. Land Rover drives in. View of river with ropes strewn across as makeshift crossing. (Sample stock number: 13672.) Scene 12: 14 secs. View from cockpit of helicopter as it comes in to land at a makeshift landing site in the country. (Sample stock number: 33216.) Scene 13: 18 secs. Brief views of river in Borneo/Sarawak from army landing craft; local vessels passing. (Sample stock number: 13565.) [Splice] Further shot on board the landing craft as it moves upriver, which is seen to be carrying a lorry. Scene 14: 15 secs.Various views (wide shot and close-ups) of a camouflaged artillery piece by a British camp. (Sample stock number: 91669.) Scene 15: 25 secs. Numerous streets scenes in either Sarawak or Borneo. Scene 16: 10 secs. Party of soldiers, with pack animals, make their way on foot through dense vegetation in the mountains. (Sample stock number: 35289.) Scene 17: Further compilation of aerial sequences. View from cockpit of light aircraft as it prepares to take off from airstrip. Cockpit view in flight. Aerial shot of airstrip. [Spliced] (Sample stock numbers: 35905. 32915.) Cockpit view in flight over jungle. View of jungle from rear cargo door: aircraft passes unkempt jungle airfield below. [Splice] Brief view of jungle settlement. [Splice] Aerial view of river. [Splice] Aerial view of a different, but also unkempt, airfield; there are buildings in the jungle in the distance. (Sample stock numbers: 32915, 97128, 83240, 35165, 35202, 92115.) [Splice] View from rear door of Beverley in flight as paradrop is made. (Sample stock number: 92416.) Scene 18: Compilation of helicopter shots. Wessex landing, carrying underslung Bell 47 helicopter. (Sample stock number: 83436.) [Splice] Wessex in flight carrying underslung Bell 47 helicopter. (Sample stock number: 83492, ie from the same roll as the previous shot.) [Splice] Brief shot of twin rotor helicopter (XC486), possibly 1962. (Sample stock number:32571.) [Splice] Wessex on ground in clearing at the edge of the jungle. (Sample stock number: 91772.) [Splice] Bell 47 on the ground near fixed airfield buildings. (Sample stock number: 83449.) [No Scene 19] Scene 20: 38 secs. Miscellaneous scenes of service life, Sarawak etc. Various vehicles (including armoured car) in camp. (Sample stock number: 91847.) [Splice] British personnel (stripped to the waste) survey a field converted into a grass airstrip; one smiles at the camera. (Sample stock number: 11165.) [Splice] Other soldiers, one in a glengarry with plume, look over the countryside and mountains. (Sample stock number: 35265. 1962 ?) [Splice] British soldiers in camp at the edge of a jungle. (Sample stock number: 11187, same roll as airstrip shot?) [Splice] Scene 21: 40 secs. General miscellany. Aerial view of a jungle village, followed (without splice) by a close-up shot of abandoned ordnance in the jungle. (Sample stock number: 91660.) [Splice] Local Borneo/Sarawak women in colourful costumes, one is cradling a small monkey. (Sample stock number: 83417, edge code suggests ca 1962.) [Splice] Extreme close-up of passing Royal Air Force Far East transport aircraft, with the number 34 on the tail. This is a Blackburn Beverley C1; coincidentally, this aircraft (XM112) was the last one produced for the RAF. (Sample stock number: 92002.)
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY COLONEL FURSDON [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 6743
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1965
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Fursdon, Edward (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 400 ft (ca); Running time: 10 mins (ca)
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 6743

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