Ballot papers are delivered by air to Calcutta, India, for distribution to RAF bases before the 1945 General Election.

Men stand by an RAF Douglas Dakota transport aircraft. The cargo doors are opened and mail sacks, some marked 'Election', are handed down. The sacks are put into a lorry marked 'RAF Post'. Signs read 'RAF Post Calcutta - Crescent Court' and 'Enquiries and Airgram Office'. The post lorry drives through a set of gates before being unloaded. On an airstrip a sign by a wooden hut reads 'Polling Booth' and an airman sits behind a desk with an improvised ballot box. Men queue up to cast their votes while others emerge from the hut and post their ballot papers into the box. Two Indian civilians with parked US Army Air Force F-5 photoreconnaissance aircraft (a P-38 Lightning variant) in the background (possibly of 33rd Fighter Group, 10th Air Force). A group of local people. An airman leaves the voting booth. Close-up as he pushes his ballot paper into the box. Close-up of a local woman with a basket.

Notes

No date on dopesheet and no slates. As polling day was 5/7/1945, it would seem likely that the shooting date is early July.

Complementary footage showing voting arrangements for this election can be seen in the film reference below. Still photographs also held in Photograph Archive; see related items.