Officer cadets of the Chinese (Nationalist) Air Force undergo pilot training at the Northern India Flying Club near Lahore, India (Pakistan).

Captain Wong, Chief Engineering Officer, arrives to inspect a parade of Chinese (Nationalist) Air Force cadets. Cadets on parade. The hangar of the Northern India Flying Club. Aircraft being serviced; the aircraft are Boeing Stearman PT-17 biplanes (also known as 'Kaydets') in Chinese Nationalist markings. Pilots run to their aircraft. Pilots approaching a long line of parked aircraft. Aircraft in flight and aerial views of the airfield. Clothing is issued. A staff car stops just in front of camera, it is marked with both a Royal Air Force roundel and a white Chinese Air Force sun emblem. Cadets jump off the back of a lorry and form up. A truck full of cadets passes camera and drives through an entrance arch towards the school. The arch is adorned with a variety of Chinese writing. The cadets are shown a large tableau representing a map of China; a large (apparently Japanese) bomb stands erect in the centre of the map and is inscribed 'WAKE UP!'. Clothing parade; cadets are issued with clothing supplied by the RAF. Close-up of a cadet signing for the issue of his cap badge. A cadet boards an aircraft with his instructor in the front cockpit. Two mechanics start a Kaydet's engine and it taxis away. The aircraft takes off.

Notes

This film documents efforts by Allied air forces to train and support the Chinese Air Force, which had suffered heavily at the hands of Japanese air forces (particularly those of the Imperial Japanese Navy).

Photographs of Chinese airmen being trained in India can be found at the IWM photo reference below.

The Northern India Flying Club was one of the oldest flying clubs in India, and still exists today as the Lahore Flying Club at a field now known as Walton Airport, 6 miles south of central Lahore.