As a RAF Flight Sergeant, wearing flying helmet and goggles looks on, a Japanese soldier hands a ...

As a RAF Flight Sergeant, wearing flying helmet and goggles looks on, a Japanese soldier hands a small pack to another Japanese soldier who is sitting in the cockpit of a Westland Lysander IIIA V9818 of 357 Special Duties (SD) Squadron, RAF, at Mingaladon airfield. A third Japanese soldier is bending over behind his comrade in the cabin of the aircraft. Plugged into the aircraft's electrical system on the side of its fuselage is an electric cable which is connected to an accumulator (not in view) mounted on a trolley. One of the trolley's wheels is visible (left). The accumulator provides the power to start the aircraft's engine. The Lysander is about to fly the Japanese to remote areas of Burma where they will be parachuted in to Japanese forces who have not yet surrendered in order to tell them that the war has ended. The Japanese will make their parachute jump from the ladder attached to the fuselage of the aircraft. Because of the long distance the aircraft has to travel, an auxiliary fuel tank has been fitted to the underside of the fuselage. (Donor W. Mulford) (Original negative held in AWM Archive Store)