RAMREE ISLAND AIRSTRIP [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: RAMREE ISLAND AIRSTRIP [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ABY 68
  • Other titles: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Scenes of airfield preparation, fighter and RAF Regiment operations and airfield life on Ramree Island, Burma.
  • Description: Panning shots of airstrip. Local labourers breaking bricks while an armed British serviceman stands over them. An Indian man drives a bulldozer to level ground and clear undergrowth. Close-up on the bulldozer blade. British other ranks of 903 Wing RAF (previously stationed on Akyab) unloading bricks from the back of a lorry. British servicmen throwing broken bricks into the back of a lorry. Series of close-ups of British men at work. A seemingly rather hazardous shot from the bed of the lorry with men throwing bricks towards camera. A Chevrolet CMP 15cwt truck passes camera. A trailer is filled with water drawn from a well some distance from the airfield. The water is thrown by the bucketload to dampen the ground before rolling. A small lorry tows a roller. Close-up on the roller with manufacturer's marking legible - 'Rangoon'. Two men with their back to camera appear to be cleaning their rifles. Men operating a water pump. Group of officers chatting in the shade of a tree, named on dopesheet as Wing Commander Airie, Wing Commander Smith and Flight Lieutenant Garland. Scenes from a British servicemen's cookhouse. Men lining up for food and being served. An RAF Douglas Dakota transport aircraft comes in to land. Dakota taxiing. A Group Captain, probably Group Captain Dennis David, chats with airmen. An RAF Spitfire Mk VIII (MS:K, MV422) of RAF 273 Squadron comes in to land, followed by MS:G. A Spitfire taxis to dispersal with another in the foreground. The pilot of MS:K disemplanes. A US Army Air Force Dakota named 'Flyspeck' lands, passing close to the camera. A DUKW amphibious truck named 'Snow Flake' passes the camera with a variety of British and American senior officers on board including Major-General Lomax, General Officer Commanding 26th Indian Division, and Lieutenant-General Raymond Wheeler, US Army, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command. Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC taxiing. The pilot, a Group Captain wearing service dress nimbly dismounts. A number of senior officers talking with British and Indian servicemen in the background. Men eating 'tiffin' at tables in the cookhouse. Tea served from a petrol can. Various close-ups of men eating. Spitfire MS:H taxiing. Spitfire MS:D (serial possibly JG114, but a little indistinct) landing, followed by MS:S LV861, and MS:X MD235. An RAF Stinson Sentinel observation aircraft in the background as MS:X taxis past. Long panning shot showing Spitfire squadron at dispersal. A jeep carrying RAF Regiment airmen stops to examine a dummy Japanese tank. At a destroyed temple airmen, some of them carrying Sten submachine guns, pause to examine a stone head. Airmen examine a box full of 6.5mm Arisaka ammunition on stripper clips at an abandoned Japanese ammo dump. Men picking their way through large pieces of wrecked masonry. Men find a broken stone statuette and jokingly try to put it back together. Airmen looking at a blackboard with Japanese writing, possibly some sort of roster. Survey of damaged and destroyed buildings in the area.
  • Alternative Title: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: ABY 68
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-01-25
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Clot, Dennis Francis Emile1919-07-04 (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Lomax, Cyril Ernest Napier (person) Wheeler, Raymond Albert (person) Royal Air Force, 903 Wing (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, 273 Squadron (regiment/service) United States Army Air Forces (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Regiment (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Ramree, Burma (geography) Third Arakan Campaign 1944-1945, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Fighter operations, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (theme) Far East 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: 890 ft; Running time: 10 minutes
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ABY 68

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    Documents.17155 (System.Xml.XmlElement) CF 288 (THE WAR IN THE FAR EAST: THE BURMA CAMPAIGN 1941-1945)
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