Delhi airport, Delhi, India, 12 June 1942. View over airfield control tower to aircraft in the sky. View over roof of car with Union flag to aircraft in the sky. Shot of airfield control tower with sandbag defences, across the airfield. Douglas C-47 Dakota aircraft coming in to land. Dakota is waived into position on the airfield. Press and a small group of onlookers waiting behind a barrier. Indians using handkerchiefs to shelter their faces from the wind and dust. Dakota aircraft being waved in to position on the airfield. Short reception line officers and civilians including General Sir Archibald Wavell, Vice Admiral Sir Herbert Fitzherbert, Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse and the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, waiting on the airfield. Duke of Gloucester, escorted by Lord Linlithgow, is presented to the officers as he leaves the aircraft. (Film cameraman visible in the background.) Duke of Gloucester is driven away in an official Rolls Royce motor car. Portrait shots of General Sir Archibald Wavell, Vice Admiral Sir Herbert Fitzherbert and Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse.

Agra, India, 1 June 1942. View of the Taj Mahal through an archway, (presumably through at the entrance pavilion). The dome of the Taj Mahal is covered in scaffolding. Another view of the Taj Mahal with a woman briefly in shot. Portrait shot of an elderly bearded Sikh. View of the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah. View of the Fort of Agra. View of a woman in western dress holding a camera standing at the entrance to a building, (wearing some form of material overshoes). Views looking upward of the wooden scaffolding around the dome of the Taj Mahal. View of the same woman and a British Army officer entering a building. View over the formal gardens.

Viceregal Lodge, Delhi, India, 14 June 1942. Scenes of the March Past for Allied Day outside of the Viceregal Lodge. Duke of Gloucester and a large group of officers, British, American and Chinese, on the steps of the Viceregal Lodge. View of the Viceregal Lodge. March past of troops including British, American, Indian and Chinese contingents. View of the Union flag flying from the dome of the Viceregal Lodge. Duke of Gloucester takes the salute (poor quality). Shots of a group of convalescent Indian troops watching the parade. Small contingent of Chinese troops march past. The Duke of Gloucester and his entourage walk up the steps into the Viceregal Lodge.

Delhi, India, 13 June 1942. The Duke of Gloucester and Brigadier Gough step out of an official Rolls Royce car on to the airfield and are introduced to a line of British officers and two Chinese officers. Shots of the Duke of Gloucester, Brigadier Gough and their entourage looking skywards. Shot of the two Chinese officers flanked by two Chinese (?) civilians also looking skywards. Small group of Punjab soldiers seated cross-legged on the ground. Portrait shot of General Alexander, with a close-up of his medal ribbons. Three biplanes in the sky (possibly Vickers Virginia aircraft). Various long shots of parachutists descending. Single parachutists landing. Long shots of parachutists leaving the aircraft. Long shot of a parachutist with a ripped parachute landing very heavily. View of Duke of Gloucester, Brigadier Gough and the Chinese officers looking on. Panning shot of the descending parachutes. The Duke of Gloucester talking with Brigadier Gough. Various shots of parachutes descending.

Mute unedited footage shot by British Paramount News cameraman Maurice Ford in Burma 1942.

Notes

The other cameramen seen at Delhi may have been working for Movietone, Gaumont British News (S R Bonnett), News of the Day and Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Bryan Langley) as noted on the Dope Sheet.

See also Dope Sheet for film AYY 243/1

The Dope Sheet dates the filming as from 1st - 14th June 1942.

The above stories relate to Shipments no 173, 172, 175 and 174.

The Taj Mahal, in Agra, built by Shah Jehan for his wife Mumatz Mahal (Arjuman Banu), was completed in 1648. The Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal stands in a formal walled garden entered through a pavilion. The tomb, raised on a terrace, is reflected in the central canal and is entirely sheathed in white marble.

The names of personalities are taken from Maurice Ford's and Bryan Langley's Dope Sheets.

For the British Paramount newsreel including footage shot by Maurice Ford in Burma, 1942, see issue no 1173, IWM film ref NPA 1173.