Aerial photographs of Allied bombing raids on Japanese occupied Burma.

Footage from the American archives - Burma Mission

BURMA MISSION



Summary: AVs, bombs fall on targets: Prome, Tangup, Kennedy, Peak, Wyataung, and Indainggyu. Good shots, bombs covering target areas. B-29s BOMB BANGKOK, THAILAND.: 11/27/1944. AVs, B-29s in flight. AVs, B-29s drop bombs on Bangkok. MISSION TO FRENCH INDOCHINA.: 11/27-28/1944. AVs, B-24s drop bombs on Hanoi. ATTACKS AGAINST THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES.: 11/01/1944. AVs, B-25s flying over water, drop bombs on various targets. Good CU, B-25 in flight showing gun turrets and other details of plane. AV, B-25 strafing small Japanese ships. BOMB DAMAGED SCHWEINFURT, GERMANY. Low level, AVs, bomb-damaged buildings and ball bearing factories.

 

There are some excellent images here -- thanks for posting, Extreme.

 

I'll second that sentiment. Disappointed I missed this back in July.

 

I just wanted to add a slight update. See Post #140 on page 4 (on my computer) of this thread. I had posted a link to a video created by Paul Kightley, in which he reviews his father's RAF 355 Squadron service. I know that Paul created another version of the video, so he must have voided the earlier YouTube link. The active link, which I just successfully viewed, is:



I think it is worth watching, if you have a few minutes. Very well-done, and made with great respect for his father, one of the two survivors of the B-24 Liberator ditching in the Bay of Bengal which took the life of the only Fighter Command Victoria Cross recipient of the war, James Nicolson.

Cheers,

Matt

 

It is quite some time since I added to this thread but at last I have found some more original photographs They are a group of four with no official notations on the front edges, but luckily they are annotated on the reverse and I think that I have worked out the squadron involved. They are in a tatty condition having been kept in a damp environment, but they still have a wealth of detail. I have trimmed and enlarged them photographically.

The first photograph has the caption: Akyab. Suspect 2 L.M.G. emplacements at right of hut. Taken 5/3/43.



I am not entirely sure that I can make out the two Light Machine Gun emplacements to the right of the hut, assuming that the hut is the out building at the front right of the house.



A close up of the house reveals a man running for cover away from the hut.



The top left of the photograph shows a steam roller parked on a wide road outside the entrance of a three sided shelter, possibly with a thatched roof.



A close up of the three sided building appears to have barrels of either oil or fuel stacked along one inner side. You can also clearly make out the steam roller.



While the caption makes no reference to an exact location, I believe that the photograph was taken at, or slightly above, the Akyab airfield.

 

The second photograph in the sequence appears to have been taken either above or just beyond the house in the first photograph. Note that the bunds of the dry paddy fields are identical. The caption reads, Showing opening bursts on steam roller. Akyab 5/3/43.



Close up of the under fire steam roller.



Caption.

 

In the third photograph the aircraft is moments away from flying over the steam roller. The oil dump with its entrance gate can clearly be seen.



Close up of the oil dump.



The road is very wide and may be part of the airfield outer runway/taxi way.




A clearer view of the oil dump.

 

In the fourth photograph, the aircraft may now be over the sea with the burning oil dump now on the horizon. The shadow to the top left appears to be a part of the aircraft.



This appears to be the shore line.



This photograph is different from the other three in that they were moving towards the target and this one is moving away from it. The caption reveals how the photograph was taken.

 

Having looked through the operation record books of the various squadrons involved in the attack on Akyab Island on the 5th March 1943, mentioned by Tony Shore in his Air War for Burma, I eventually found the answer as to which squadron was involved in the attack on the airfield. Tony Shore does not mention the attack on the airfield, but states, "The day ended with a shipping strike undertaken by six Beaufighters of 27 Squadron and ten Hurricanes of 615 Squadron, escorted by ten Hurricanes each from 79 and 136 Squadrons, and six of 607 Squadron."

 

The March 1943 Summary of Events for 27 Squadron has the following:

Argatala. 5.3.43. W/Cdr. Daish, P/O's Thompson and Cotter and Sgt's Vincent, Spratt and Hartness took off in "R", "E", "D", "R", "S" and "V" at 14.30 hrs, proceeding to a rendezvous over St. Martin's Island and should have been met there by 1 Squadron of Hurricane 2 Bs and 2 Squadrons of 2 Cs. Only 10 2 Cs. turned up however and these were left behind after setting course for the targets, shipping and aerodromes in the AKYAB AREA, even though they were supposed to be acting as our top cover. On AKYAB aerodrome itself an oil dump in a three sided native hut with a thatched roof was set completely alight by "R". 2 derelict A/C were noticed on one of the Dabaing strips. Two barrack like buildings and a wireless truck at KYAUKPYU in the north of Ramree Island. Quite accurate Bofors type A/A was encounted over AKYAB aerodrome and "S" had one hit in the starboard outer tank and "R" was hit by an explosive bullet, possibly a .5, both whilst over the island. In the latter case the bullet went through the starboard undercarriage, also bursting the tyre and on the night landing the A/C swung off the runway causing the port undercarriage to collapse. Fortunately, W/C Daish was uninjured and his Nav/W. F/Lt. Franklin only suffered a slight cut on the forehead. Sgts Vincent and Spratt landed at CHITTAGONG owing to the weather and the probability of a first night landing at Base if continuing.

 

Thanks for posting these High Wood. I don't know where you get them, but they are filled with drama and incident and the research is pretty good too!

I must thank you also for the images of 215 Squadron's 'M', posts 24, 26, 27 and 28 on page two of this thread. 'M' was flown that day by F/Os W Waddington (Capt), W W Frazer (Screen), F/Sgt R Done (N), F/O A E Smith (B), F/Sgt A H Cooper (FE), Sgts J Barlow (1st WOP), B H McIlwaine (2nd WOP), F/Sgts J P Howse (FG), G E Hill (MU), S B Jones (Ball), J Slight (RG).

The bomb aimer was my father, who died last year. Sadly I didn't realise the significance of the photo before he died; he would have been chuffed to see it.

Regards,

Geoff

 

By pure chance, while prepping images for my next book, I saw something which jumped out at me when I was looking at a crop of an aerial image taken along the Burma-Siam Railway on 22 March 1945. I saw a looping bypass railway line at Milestone 82.5 in Siam and realized that this was the same areas which puzzled High Wood (Simon) back in November 2019, when he posted photos (see #109 and #110 on page 6 of this thread).

And just like that, I discovered this location and am now able to compare the wartime images with various modern Google Earth satellite shots. Here are the results. The area is in the section of the railway which has been flooded out by the construction of a dam, so it is impossible to visit most of the locations today, without diving gear, anyway.

I have marked each of my images as AA, BB, CC, or DD to aid you in making sense of the area and the images.

AA offerings are two different Google Earth satellite images, one from a high water period (December 2018), and one from a low water period (March 2021). The site of the wartime railway activity is mostly under water now because of a dam and reservoir (which obliterates a longer segment of the Burma-Siam Railway). However, there are a few scars from wartime activity that can be identified.

BB offerings show a cropped piece of a wartime map, 95 I/12 (scale 1:63,360, or one inch equals one mile) positioned as best I can upon the low water Google Earth image from March 2021.

CC offerings show my best-positioning of two pieces of imagery from WWII atop Google Earth imagery from March 2021. You'll note High Wood's piece of imagery (undated) [EDIT: In response to this posting High Wood has added that the date of the imagery is 24 JULY 1945.] and also the piece of 22 March 1945 imagery that I provided. A third "CC" image is just the same area, minus the wartime images, as seen in the Google Earth imagery from March 2021.

DD offers two close ups of March 2021 Google Earth satellite imagery, where I have identified various scars from the World War II railway and service roads constructed long ago.

In all images, NORTH is up; the Google Earth images have a north arrow at upper right. Note that in addition to the flooding of the area caused by the downriver dam, watercourses seen in the dry season have changed a little bit since mapped [EDIT: and photographed] long ago. This is typical of rivers and creeks that meander in flatter areas.

And because of complicated geodesy issues, making images and maps all match up precisely is next to impossible. I won't go into details, but I've matched details as best I could, and the matches will always be imperfect without specialty software which can "rectify" -- force changes (stretching images) using points in common with all images. However, I have no idea of what images were used to draw the map. There could have been error made by the cartographer decades ago. Still, there is detail aplenty which makes it possible to do a fairly decent match of all materials.

So there you go. We have one more of High Wood's images identified. The site is in Thailand -- note the latitude and longitude numbers on the bottom of the Google Earth images.

Hoping this all makes sense...I rushed it to beat thunderstorm activity in the area.

Cheers,

Matt

 

Yet another masterclass in photographic location identification from Matt. I take my hat off to you, (again).



I spent hours looking at every inch of the Burmese Railway system on Google Earth for a possible match and found nothing.

Lesson one. When trying to identify a location make sure that you have the photograph the right way up.

Lesson two. When trying to identify a location make sure that you are looking in the right country. It simply hadn't occured to me that the photograph was taken in Thailand rather than Burma.

Lesson three. When you have identified the right country, do not discount the possibility that the entire area has been erased from the landscape by a Hydro-Electric scheme.

I can honestly say, that without Matt's techinical skills, accumulated knowledge and years of experience, this photograph would have remained a mystery. Many thanks from me.

The photograph is not undated, in fact the only information on the back of the photograph is the date, 24th July, 1945.

The photograph itself appears to be an enlargement of an area of another photograph and has no marginalia.

I can now relax, knowing that another photograph in my collection has been successfully identified.

There are of course, many, many more that are not. Hint, hint.

 

Without a doubt Matt is the man! He has been huge help in my research projects too.
Lionboxer

 

Matt suggested to me to look at this post. It was one of a great info.

I am interested on Thai Burma railway. And always love with Aerial photos of Thai Burma railway.

Happy to see these photos because it was the first place of my exploration the existing railway remain.

I went there quit often but have to go when the dry season but some year still can not go due to the water level is too high.

Can i add more info about the arial photo that Matt and Wood posted. Northern section of the photo was the railway Station. We call Nikke or Nithea Station. One of the six main station on Thailand side of the railway. And it was the last main station on Thai side before train will go through Burma area.

Many POWs and Asian Workers (especially burmese) die there.

 

Not strictly damage caused by an allied air raid as the oil storage tanks and the refinery at Seikgyi were deliberately destroyed in March 1942 along with the oil facilities at Syriam to prevent them falling into Japanese hands. These particular photographs were taken in 1945.

 

The demolition of both the Syriam and Seikgyi oil installations were carried out by employees of the Burma Oil Company and British military forces. There are a series of photographs taken from the Rangoon river.

The first two photograph are of the Syriam oil refinery ablaze.





The attached map shows their position on the east bank of the Rangoon river.

 

The next photograph shows the Seikgyi oil installation ablaze.



The map shows the position of the Seikgyi oil refinery.

 

The photographs were taken from a Royal Naval launch that was patrolling the Rangoon river. I have not yet identified the launch but I know the names of two of the officers aboard, Lieutenant Love and Sub Lieutenant Wagstaff. They are pictured in this photograph and they appear to be having a lunch break.

 

This photograph shows both the Syriam and Seikgyi refineries ablaze.