Title:ROYAL ENGINEERS RESTORE RECENTLY-CAPTURED AIRFIELDS TO FULL OPERATIONAL USE [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 149-1
Other titles:
Summary: Airfields at Evreux and Beauvais once used by the Luftwaffe and now overrun by the 21st Army Group during its breakout from Normandy are repaired by 12th AGRE engineers for use by the 2nd Tactical Air Force.
Description: At Evreux, damaged galvanised steel roofing is removed from bombed-out hangars by troops serving with the RAF Regiment. A stockpile of German bombs (sign-posted "Dunkirchenstrasse") lies abandoned on the airfield. Engineers repair the crater-pitted concrete runway. At Beauvais West aerodrome, bulldozers fill in craters on the concrete landing strip; along side it, French labourers assisted by a steam-roller, prepare a grass landing strip whilst mechanical road graders scrape debris off the concrete runway. Nearby, a chalk identification sign, "B.42", is laid out on the grass. A bomb-disposal squad dismantles the last of the landmines and booby traps laid by the Germans which were unearthed in a drain on the runway itself. Soon afterwards, the first Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers (175 Squadron RAF) land and commence operational sorties.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Palmer, F A W (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force, Sqdn 175 (regiment/service)
Royal Air Force, 2nd Tactical Air Force (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service)
Keywords: aircraft, British - combat: Hawker Typhoon (object name)
engineering, military, Allied: airfield repair (object name)
transport, British military - engineering: bulldozer (object name)
transport, British military - engineering: earth leveller (object name)
operations, British military - bomb disposal (object name)
transport, British military - engineering: steamroller (object name)
supplies, German, storage [FA] (object name)
signs, military and civilian (object name)
Évreux, Eure, France (geography)
Beauvais West Aerodrome, Beauvais, Oise, France (geography)
