Reel 1: Aerial footage showing a Royal Candian Air Force (RCAF) Douglas Dakota transport aircraft in flight; the aircraft is KJ902 'R' and has a maple leaf insignia on its nose. Sacks of food are unloaded. The crew of a Dakota named 'Salomi' eat a small meal by their aircraft. Rice is distributed to local people. 'R' in flight. Aircrew board 'Salomi'. View of the aircraft undercarriage. Pilot leans out of the cockpit window of 'R' and gives a thumbs-up. A ground crewman reciprocates. View from the cockpit as the Dakota rolls along the runway. Aircrew being briefed by their commanding officer and an Air Liaison Officer. An RCAF flag flying. A Dakota takes off. Series of low passes by Dakotas. A Dakota landing. Interior shot from a tented stables; airmen inspect horses. Outside five airmen on horseback ride off. The airmen enter a local village and dismount. An airman talks with a local woman stall owner; she has a vertical white mark in the middle of her forehead. At Bawdwin mines a man carrying a sack of rice gets off a train. Dakota landing. A lorry is backed up to a Dakota and the aircraft is loaded from it. A Chevrolet CMP lorry drives along a road. Local women, carrying tall baskets on their backs by means of head straps, pass camera. A small railway locomotive underway. [Repeated footage of man with sack disembarking at Bawdwin]. CMP lorries driving. Interior shots onboard a Dakota; the pilot at the controls, the wireless operator at his transmitter and the navigator at work. The navigator is a Flight Lieutenant and wears 'Canada' on his epaulette. In a godown (warehouse) an officer watches as a sack of rice is weighed on a large balance before being carried away. A driver climbs into the cab of a CMP lorry with 'CAS' (Civil Affairs Service) marked on the door.

Reel 2: A jeep makes its way along a winding mountainous road. In a tent a wireless operator transmits Morse code. A sign reads 'Chinthe Riding Club'. Men playing baseball. Local children watching the game; a Canadian airman with a ball appears to be trying to explain the rules. Men cooking on camp stoves. Interior of a Dakota in flight; men position sacks by the open cargo door. They brace themselves before kicking them out. Looking down the side of the Dakota from a portside hatch as sacks of rice are 'free-dropped' (i.e. without parachutes) from low altitude. Aerial view of a partially destroyed suspension bridge. A second broken bridge or viaduct over the deep Gokteik gorge ('Gotik' on the dopesheet). At Tulihall (Tulihal) airstrip near Imphal a local man drives a plough, drawn by bullocks, across a paddy field as Dakotas pass in the background. Airmen walk across a field and cross a ditch by a rickety bamboo bridge. A local woman pounds grain with a pole and an airman tries to help. They talk to the woman while another tosses grain in a large flat basket or tray. The airmen share cigarettes and play cards with the locals. Brief shot of children performing for the airmen. Sacks being filled with rice. A sign reads 'HQ 61 Coy RASC (AD)' [61 Company, Royal Army Service Corps (Air Despatch)]. Parked Dakotas with petrol bowsers. An RAF De Havilland Mosquito takes off. A US Army Air Force North American B-25 Mitchell takes off.

Reel 3: Two flight commanders speak with their squadron commander. Local people ploughing their paddy fields with large huts on a hillside in the background. View of the airstrip. Airmen on horseback. Men mounting and riding before jumping bales of hay. Men writing letters; one man is wearing an RCAF jersey. A sign reads 'Personnel Counsellor' and various posters advertise the benefits ('Clothing Allowance', 'War Service Gratuity', 'Educational and Vocational Training', 'Veterans' Land Act Benefits', etc) available to servicemen. A Squadron Leader, seated at a desk with various files and books, is joined by an airman wearing a baseball cap. Men saddling horses. A jeep, marked 'Sqn MO' [Squadron Medical Officer], pulls up and the driver gets out. As he enters a small hut a queue of seated servicemen (white and Indian) stand up. The Medical Officer takes a man's blood pressure. Interior shots of 'Duffy's Tavern'; pin-up girls decorate the counter and walls. Airmen are served tea and sandwiches and sit down to eat. Interior of a tent, probably some sort of NAAFI, with food and other small items available. Exterior shots at a swimming pool; a sign declares 'Chinthe Swimming Club: Built by Canadians'. Men swimming, diving into the pool and generally larking about. Airmen at a local village bazaar; one man buys a small vegetable with a note and the woman stallholder gives him change. Other airmen look at jewellery and some assorted fruit and vegetables.

Airmen of the Royal Canadian Air Force, operating in India and Burma, deliver food to local people by air before enjoying some time off duty.

Notes

A sign seen in the 'Personnel Counsellor' scenes, and references to chinthes (mythical Burmese guardian creatures) suggest that the squadron depicted is RCAF 435 (Chinthe) Squadron. Commander of this squadron named on the dopesheet of ABY 124 as Wing Commander T P Harnett of Moncton, New Brunswick.

Bawdwin mines are a source of silver, lead and zinc, 22 miles northwest of Lashio in the eastern Shan state of Burma.

This film, and the related ABY 124, can be seen in a cut and assembled form as ABY 134. See related items.

No dates on slates. Date from dopesheet.