AMPHIBIOUS EVACUATION OF CASUALTIES BY SUNDERLAND AIRCRAFT, DIBRUGARH, INDIA [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: AMPHIBIOUS EVACUATION OF CASUALTIES BY SUNDERLAND AIRCRAFT, DIBRUGARH, INDIA [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ABY 9
  • Other titles: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: A Short Sunderland flying boat of RAF 230 Squadron and DUKW amphibians are used to evacuate casualties of 111th Brigade during Operation River, May-July 1944, in support of the Second Chindit Expedition.
  • Description: Walking wounded brought ashore from a DUKW amphibious truck, followed by stretcher cases. Both loaded onto ambulances. Local Indian children. DUKW amphibian loading from Sunderland before pulling away. Women in civilian clothing travelling in DUKW. Some medical personnel appear to be Indians, possibly Sikhs. Footage from onboard Sunderland taxiing, wingtip floats in the water and cloudscape. Air Marshal Baldwin, Air Officer Commanding RAF Third Tactical Air Force, boards the aircraft from a DUKW. A hospital ward. Patients washing, and a British nurse washes a patient's feet. Sunderland refuelling by manual pump from drums in DUKW. Sunderland in flight, then coming in to land.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-06-01
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Towler, D (Pilot Officer) (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Baldwin, John Eustace Arthur (person) Royal Air Force (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, 230 Squadron (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Dibrugarh, Assam, India (geography) Chindits 1944, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Air evacuation of casualties, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Operation River, Chindits 1944, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Aerial Warfare (theme) Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (theme) Far East 1939-1945 (theme) India 1939-1945 (theme) Burma 1942-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1184 ft; Running time: 14 minutes
  • HD Media:
  • Notes: See also ABY 12 "SUNDERLAND". Aircraft is Sunderland DP180 of RAF 230 Squadron, one of two aircraft detached to the Brahmaputra from the squadron's base at Koggala, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Over 32 days these two aircraft evacuated 537 men from Lake Indawgyi in Northern Burma. During its last mission DP180 had a lucky escape, surviving a strafing attack by a Japanese fighter. The other aircraft, JM659, was lost at its moorings on 4 July 1944 after a whirlwind.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ABY 9

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MWY 25 (OPERATION RIVER: AIR EVACUATION OF CHINDITS BY SUNDERLAND FLYING BOATS OF 230 SQUADRON RAF [Allocated Title]) ABY 12 ('SUNDERLAND STORY' - TRANSPORT AND EVACUATION OF BRITISH CASUALTIES BY SUNDERLAND FLYING BOAT AT DIBRUGARH, ASSAM, INDIA [Allocated Title]) ABY 146 (SALVAGING A SUNDERLAND FLYING BOAT ON THE BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER [Allocated Title]) JFU 362 ('T FOR TOMMY' CRASHES: 230 SQUADRON SUNDERLAND AT KUANTAN [Allocated Title]) JFU 363 (KUANTAN, MALAYA: DELIVERY OF RICE BY SUNDERLAND FLYING BOAT [Allocated Title]) 2565 (Burma: Air Evacuation of Casualties)
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