Description
Object description
Women of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (the 'WAAFs') at work and play at RAF stations in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Full description
Reel 1: Two airwomen sunbathing in a garden. Two women in civilian clothes sitting on a gate. A woman mounts a horse and goes riding. Airwomen outside their billet. Women sunbathing. Three WAAFs leave their billet and stop to read a noticeboard. A sign advertises a dance on the evening of Friday 6 July 1945. Brief shot of two men riding bicycles. More sunbathing. Interior footage from a dance hall; couples dancing to the music of an RAF band. Close-ups of the drummer and saxophonist. Exterior footage; a woman walks towards a building signposted as 'Dance Hall and Cinema'. A train arrives at Rawalpindi station (now in Pakistan); an airwoman leans from a window. Carriages are marked 'E.I.R' for 'East Indian Railway'. Group of WAAFs walking along the platform. They stop for refreshments from a small stall. They board Chevrolet lorries and are driven along winding mountainous roads. The WAAFs walk to their billets. Poolside scenes of airwomen swimming and chatting. Lorries pass through a village and then along a wooded hillside road.
Full description
Reel 2: Interior of a dental surgery. A Dental Officer is at work on a patient and his WAAF orderly assists him. In the Operations (Ops) Room at RAF 229 Group HQ in Delhi an airwoman chalks information on the Ops board. Telephone exchange; WAAF telephonists at work. A WAAF operates a teleprinter. Personnel from RAF and WAAF Police. Two airwomen at a fruit stall; they are joined by two WAAF Policewomen who move them along. Two WAAF policewomen talking. A woman wearing an armband marked 'D.A.P.M' (probably 'Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal') checks a woman's papers. Interior shots at a hairdresser's salon. An airwoman chalks informaton on the Ops board. Women doing paperwork. WAAFs leave their billet and board a lorry. They dismount and walk towards a large building where a Military Policeman checks their papers. Interior shots; typists and telephonists at work. A woman writes in a ledger. External shots; women walk into the changing rooms at a swimming pool and emerge in swimming costumes. Some jump into the pool. Another large building with WAAFs arriving. A football match in progress.
Full description
Reel 3: Footage from Ratmalana Airport at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). A WAAF corporal speaks on a radio; she wears the 'Sparks' badge of a Wireless Operator. Another WAAF answers telephones. Dental surgery; a WAAF Dental Orderly at work in the background mixes a paste for the dentist. A female Wireless Operator transmits Morse code. An airwoman operates a petrol pump to refuel a lorry. A sign reads 'Fire Danger - No Smoking', copied below in two other languages. In the Equipment Section a local man piles folded sheets on a table and an airwoman counts them off. Two women count plates stored in racks while another checks tally cards. A large building at Ratmalana Airport, possibly the terminal. WAAFs walk past a parked Avro York transport aircraft. Women playing badminton. WAAFs picnicking; some eat watermelon. Another lights a cigarette. Two WAAF officers having tea outside their billet which is served by a local servant. One is reading 'Tatler' the long-running British magazine of high society. Two women push bicycles.
Physical description
35mm