An RAF Repair and Salvage Unit recovers a crashed Hawker Hurricane fighter-bomber near Sagaing, Burma.

A jeep and a lorry drive along a road passing bullock carts on the verges. An articulated flatbed lorry follows. The vehicles arrive at a crashed Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC 'E' (serial LB941). Men of the Repair and Salvage Unit, armed with Lee Enfield rifles, Sten submachine guns and Bren guns, dismount from their vehicles. One airman mans a Bren gun in a shallow foxhole while others go to work on the Hurricane in the background. An airman works on one of the aircraft's magazines. Two others remove one of the Hurricane's 20mm Hispano cannons and carry it away. Airmen working on the tail assembly. General shot of the aircraft with men working on various parts. A Douglas Dakota transport aircraft flies overhead. A ragged hole in the leading edge of the port wing; a man reaches in and pulls out the mangled remains of a vulture that struck the aircraft in flight and apparently caused the crash. Two men lift a petrol can full of tea off a small fire and carry it towards the rest of the salvage party. A man at work under the tailplane is handed a mug of tea which he gratefully receives. The group is joined by a passing army patrol who stop to chat; tam o'shanter bonnets suggest a Scottish regiment. The salvage party detach the Hurricane's starboard wing. High shot (possibly from one of the vehicles) looking down as the port wing is removed. The wing is put down on the ground and then turned over. The vertical and horizontal stabilisers are removed. A man sits in the cockpit while a crane lifts the fuselage high enough to be lowered onto the flatbed lorry. The wings are loaded onto the second lorry which drives away. A Bren gunner stands behind the cab. This lorry is followed by the flatbed carrying the fuselage and then the crane. The articulated flatbed lorry gets stuck in a pothole and is dug out. The four vehicles (two lorries, crane and jeep) drive past a small Buddhist temple with spires.

Notes

A good piece of film giving clear impression of the work of RAF Repair and Salvage Units in this theatre.

This recovery also covered by an RAF photographer. See related items.

The dopesheet gives the crash site as being near Sagaing, between British and Japanese lines, and adds that though Japanese patrols were seen during this operation, they did not come within range.

Dopesheet dates this film as May 1945.However, the photographs of this recovery were released to the Ministry of Information in mid-March, having been received at the Air Ministry on 3/3/1945, suggesting they had been taken at least a few weeks before. Further, we know from later films that the cameraman of this piece was in India in the first week of May 1945.

The cameraman of this piece, Flight Lieutenant Woodcock, was killed not long after this film was shot. 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.