Hi guys, I have a few questions (as per usual.....lol) I'm trying to locate an airstrip on the Imphal plain and have a map of the 6 that were used in WW2 but none are labelled with the name that appears in the 864ME Company (RE) war diaries?! On 8/4/44 the diary states that the company moved from MS4 on the Tiddim Road, to A.L.G. Imphal (Inkerman).... On 12/4/44 it states that they're still working on blast pens and the Inkerman strip... I know at MS4 on the Tiddim Road (SW of Imphal), one of the 6 airstrips was located there, namely Tulihal Airstrip, which is now the main Imphal International Airport. My questions are: Does anyone know what A.L.G. is short for? And could Inkerman and Tulihal be one and the same? Or if not, what was Inkerman, and where? Blast pens are the U shaped (or in the RAF, E shaped) parking areas for aircraft, whereby the aircraft have walls surrounding three of their sides, that protect them from damage but also protect the other nearby aircraft from damage if that plane were to be destroyed. Clearly if they were building blast pens, it must be at an airstrip, but it just seems a bit odd that on 8/4/44 the diary states they moved from MS4 Tiddim Road, to Inkerman, but MS4 is Tulihal, the location of an airfield?! I have no idea when Tulihal Airstrip was built, but am investigating. I'd assume that it was already built and in use in '44 though? If 864 were working on the pens and the strip, maybe the strip was existing and they were rebuilding it perhaps, or 'fixing' it. No research whatsoever, books, online or otherwise, mentions Inkerman at all, which isnt very handy!
I have a couple of books on battle on the Tiddim Road, so am looking in those for any snippet of info. The other idea I have is to look into RAF books written about Burma/India, to see if they hole any information. Thanks!
A.L.G. is Advanced Landing Ground. Full text of "THE ROYAL BOMBAY SAPPERS & MINERS 1939 1947" "Civilian labour was employed on Imphal ALG, code named Inkerman, where the construction work was handed over to Lt GS Shah IE in May 1943. However the civilian labour was employed only between 1800 and 0600 - outside the normal hours of bombing by the Japanese."
Thank you Alieneyes! I guess my next question would be, was the Imphal ALG the main imphal airstrip, in koirengei, NW of Imphal around MS127ish on the Imphal-Dimapur road?! I'll look further into that, to see when that was constructed. I'm guessing most ALG's then, were temporary structures only for light aircraft and abandoned/moved as and when the front lines changed. But maybe if they were working on the strip and building blast pens, the ALG may have evolved into a more permanent airstrip, and I know the main airstrip on the plain, was the one NW of Imphal, so it could possibly be Inkerman perhaps
This might answer your question as to location. Airfields | Battle of Imphal Wartime maps/Photos of Imphal area and airfields
I'm thinking that Inkerman could be the name for the temporary dry weather airstrip built at a right angle at the end of the Imphal Main runway in April 44. My old friend Burma Jack Welsh mentions this in his memoirs. Lionboxer
Thank you Lionboxer, as ever that is amazing information (that is obviously completely missing from official records) and a stunning photo! I completely agree that Inkerman is more than likely the dry weather strip mentioned by Burma Jack Welsh. Its great to demystify another chunk of my grandads (and 864s) war experience! I'll do my usual now and scour over the Google earth images to see if any remnants of the blast pens are still visible. I'm assuming the temporary strip obviously wont.
There were these U shaped hanger/ parking space for planes on the north west ( just crossing the Imphal-Dimapur road) of the Imphal Main airfield ( koirengei). The U shape hanger were made by carving out the earth from the hill. The structure were visible few decades ago not sure if they are still there. Raj.