Scenes of the first Women's Auxiliary Air Force personnel arriving in Bombay and sightseeing in Delhi.

Troopship approaches dockside in Bombay. Women's Auxiliary Air Force personnel (WAAF's) onboard smiling and waving. Close-ups on WAAF's waving and leaning out of portholes. Women peeling oranges, presumably a rare treat at home. Close-up on group of WAAF's smiling for the camera. A senior WAAF officer walks up the gangway. British airmen disembark with women cheering from portholes and the deck of the ship. View from the deck looking over the quayside. A member of the RAF Film Unit with camera introduces himself to the senior WAAF officer and presents his credentials. WAAF's making their way down a companionway and along the gangway to disembark. The first woman to disembark is greeted by Wing Officer Gauld and named on the dopesheet as Corporal Moyra Bish of Enfield. More women disembark and the contingent marches off along the quayside. A military train laid on to transport the WAAF's to Delhi pulls away. Footage from onboard the train. Leading Aircraftwoman (LACW) Margaret Dearlove of Newport seen writing a letter home. Brief shot of the train's kitchen and staff. WAAF's arrive at their new billets in Delhi and dismount from a lorry. In the background onlookers lean from windows to wave. Establishing shot of WAAF's seated outside a canteen. Close shot of women being served tea. A group of WAAF's go to meet two naval women of the Women's Auxiliary Corps of India, who have invited them to go sightseeing. Landscape shot of the Jama Masjid, Delhi's principal mosque. Party of WAAF's climb the mosque's steps and enter the courtyard. WAAF's walking through an archway at Delhi's Red Fort before stopping to admire a stone elephant. Group of WAAF's dwarfed by the All-India War Memorial. Camera pans up to show inscription: 'INDIA'. LACW Bowen and Dearlove take camel rides. WAAF's climb into a horse-drawn 'tonga' with the parliament building, secretariate and state office buildings in the background. WAAF's go on a shopping expedition, LACW Dearlove tries on a hand-embroidered coatee from Kashmir. Other WAAF's admire a display of decorative handbags. Group of WAAF's with mixed expressions watch a snakehandler and his collection of cobras, who appear to strike him several times. Series of portrait shots of a number of WAAF's.

Notes

No slates, date from dopesheets.

WAAF's named on dopesheet include:

Aircraftwoman Second Class Marjorie Hartley of Red Marlet [Red Marley?], Gloucester.

Corporal Mary Peacock of Bebington Wirral, Cheshire.

Corporal Moyra Bish of Enfield, seen earlier.

LACW Florence Reid of Redhill, Surrey.

LACW Heather Nichol, of Horam, Sussex.

Corporal Marjorie Prescott of Bath, Somerset.

Sergeant Pamela Smith of Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.

Flight Sergeant Joan Cooke of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

This film also appears in edited form with sound in the RAF's newsreel 'The Gen'. See reference below.

Other film relating to the service of the WAAFs in India and the far east can be found below.