ACTIVITIES ON MEIKTILA AIRSTRIP [Allocated Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.


  • Title: ACTIVITIES ON MEIKTILA AIRSTRIP [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ABY 154
  • Other titles: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: RAF and US Army Air Force (USAAF) operations at and around Meiktila following its capture by British forces.
  • Description: Bomb damage to buildings and railway rolling stock. A number of stone or plaster figures of the Buddha appear to have survived amongst one pile of rubble. American lorries at Meiktila airstrip. A lorry reverses up to a waiting Douglas Dakota transport aircraft and unloads ammunition boxes containing 25-pounder artillery rounds. A petrol bowser marked '100 Oct[ane]' passes parked Dakotas. A ground crewman passes a refuelling hose to another on the wing of a Dakota. A line-up of Dakotas on the perimeter track. A tent, apparently Flight HQ, with an unidentifiable squadron badge fixed to a nearby tree. Aerial view of the airstrip at Meiktila with gliders scattered about; the gliders are USAAF CG-4 Wacos ('Hadrian' in RAF service). An oil drum is unloaded from a Dakota. Dakota KJ916 is loaded from a lorry. Parked aircraft with gliders coming in to land; some of the parked aircraft are USAAF Curtiss C-46 Commandos. Wounded troops on stretchers are lifted onto a Dakota. Ambulances parked by a Dakota. Dakotas taking off. Waco gliders landing. Soldiers and local people attend to a tangled pile of parachutes. Close-ups of local Burmese people including women and children. A soldier examines an abandoned Japanese artillery piece on an archaic-looking wheeled carriage. An extremely brief shot of a wrecked Japanese light tank, probably a Type-95 Ha-Go. A wrecked Dakota with close-ups of a hole in its fuselage and a wrecked engine. A sign reads 'Meiktila Landing Strip'. Dakota take-off. A large pile of parachutes.
  • 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 154
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-04-11
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Layzell, R G (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: United States Army Air Forces (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, 238 Squadron (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Meiktila, Burma (geography) Battle of Meiktila 1945, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Air supply operations, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Airborne operations, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Royal Air Force 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: 96 ft; Running time: 2 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ABY 154

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    JFU 50 (THE ADVANCE TO MEIKTILA [Allocated Title]) JFU 51 (BREN GUN CARRIERS ON THE ROAD TO MEIKTILA [Allocated Title]) JFU 52 (THE APPROACH TO MEIKTILA [Allocated Title]) ABY 156 (THUNDERBOLTS AT MEIKTILA [Allocated Title])
Register