RAF 27 SQUADRON BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER OPERATIONS AT CHIRINGA [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: RAF 27 SQUADRON BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER OPERATIONS AT CHIRINGA [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ABY 63
  • Other titles: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Scenes of Bristol Beaufighter Mk X's of RAF 27 Squadron operating from Chiringa airfield, India.
  • Description: View of runway with Bristol Beaufighters taking off. One of the Beaufighters has a thimble-shaped nose radome, presumably a night fighter. Beaufighter NE658 'G' taking off. Beaufighter 'D' landing. Beaufighter being fuelled from a bowser and being serviced. Shot looking up at fitter working on engine. Rather indistinct and poorly lit shot, probably of two armourers servicing the aircraft's guns. Clearer view of guns being serviced. Beaufighter taxiing with cockpit canopy open and local Indian children in foreground. Engines shutting down and crew disemplaning from Beaufigher 'B'. 20mm guns are serviced before being remounted on aircraft. Beaufighter 'M' taxis past camera. Engines starting up. Armourer loading a belt of 20mm ammunition into a Beaufighter's magazine. Airmen gather around a map for a briefing with bamboo huts in the background. Airman wearing a kukri on his belt boards a Beaufighter named 'King Charles II' through forward boarding hatch. In the background a second airman dons his parachute harness before emplaning. Engines starting. Beaufighter taxis from dispersal.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-01-04
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Woodcock, Sidney Leslie1945-05-02Flight Lieutenant Sidney Leslie Woodcock, service number 175562, cameraman with No.3 Royal Air Force Film Production Unit. Killed in action 2 May 1945 while filming from a Mosquito of 110 Squadron RAF over Rangoon, Burma. Buried in Rangoon War Cemetery alongside his pilot, Flight Lieutenant John George Buchanan (415744) see [http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2261432 accessed 24 February 2011] (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force, 27 Squadron (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Chiringa, Bengal Province, India (geography) Fighter operations, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (theme) Far East 1939-1945 (theme) India 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 381 ft; Running time: 5 minutes
  • HD Media:
  • Notes: Dopesheet refers to RAF 27 Squadron, presumably the squadron seen in this film. Airfield therefore likely to be Chiringa, now in Bangladesh. The dopesheet remarks: 'These Beaufighters are doing daily runs over this area first along Raugup pass [probably Taungup] then the river [Irrawaddy]. During the last two weeks no traffic has been seen on the road during the night runs...owing possibly to the effect of the this Beaufighter Shuttle Service'. Original dopesheet title 'Beaufighters attacks [sic] on sampans on Irrawaddy River'. See references below for IWM photographs of other Beaufighter operations by this squadron. The cameraman of this piece, Flight Lieutenant Sidney Woodcock, was killed in action. He and his pilot, Flight Lieutenant J G Buchanan of RAF 110 Squadron, failed to return after a Mosquito sortie over Rangoon on 2 May 1945. They are buried in adjacent plots in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Rangoon War Cemetery.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ABY 63

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    ABY 30 (RAF BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER OPERATIONS IN BURMA [Allocated Title]) C 3734 (ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945.) CI 161 (ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945.) CI 162 (ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945.) CI 167 (ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945.) CI 293 (ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE FAR EAST, 1941-1945.)
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