Metadata
- Title: FRONT LINE AIRFIELD [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: ACB 72
- Other titles:
- Summary:
- Description: I. Pilots sit in front of a camouflaged rest tent - reading, smoking, relaxing, drinking (drinks are fetched from a large urn). Two pilots study a map, while another reads an RAF magazine (smoking a pipe). Wing Commander Maurice looks through binoculars (various takes); over an airman's shoulder, we see pin-ups in an RAF magazine (including 'Technicolor Tessie'). A pilot watches a Typhoon taking off; another smokes a pipe and looks up at the sky. Various shots of a game of dice in progress; a pilot throws, hands grab for money, general excitement. Two airmen strip to wash under a 'thatched' shower. Another two airmen listen intently to the gramophone, and smoke - geese in the background. An airman hangs out clothes to dry, while another pours water over a colleagues back (the latter is in a bathtub). In a makeshift, open air, orderly room, a man sits at a typewriter, and is consulted by an airman. II. After ca. 85 ft of blank footage, film (brief) of an air-attack by Typhoons (with rockets) on an airfield (poor quality). At 185 ft, film of life at a 'Front Line Airfield' - an airman feeds ducks; another hangs out his washing; a Typhoon taxies, raising dust; a Mosquito and a P-47 Thunderbolt are seen in the distance; various shots of Typhoons taxiing; Typhoons take off (in pairs) - several takes; a truck tows a 20mm Bofors AA gun (panning shot), and six members of the RAF Regiment set the gun up, very briskly. A Typhoon takes off.
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
- Featured Period: 1939-1945
- Production Date: 1944-07-18
- Production Country: GB
- Production Details: Royal Air Force (Production company) Eades (Sergeant) (Production individual) Mackinnon (Sergeant) (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Maurice (Wing Commander) (person) Royal Air Force (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, RAF Regt (regiment/service)
- Keywords: aircraft, British - combat: Hawker Typhoon (object name) combat, British air (object name) operations, British air - routine (object name) recreation, British air - casual: cards (object name) recreation, British air - casual: dice (object name) recreation, British air - casual: reading (object name) society, British air - hygiene: ablutions (object name) society, British air - sustenance (object name) weapons, British - gun [AA]: 20mm Bofors (object name) Normandy, France (geography)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 2 Footage: 1437 ft; Running time: 15 mins
- Notes: Summary: see remarks to ACB 25. Technical: print of ACB 72/2 is in a separate can. Two fine grain versions held (sp 2 is 792 ft).
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