TEN YEARS ago this wonderful thread was started by former Lancaster bomber pilot Cliff Leach and soon became the most popular on Prune. Ten years later the thread contains almost 12,000 posts and has had more than three million viewings. In 2012 we welcomed yet another new poster in Danny42C, who soon won everyone's heart with his combination of Hibernian wit, wry humour, and generosity, with hundreds logging on daily to read his latest offering.
After training in Florida and OTU in England Danny was posted to India expecting to fly the graceful Spitfire on which he had trained. But instead of that dainty ballerina of the skies he was horrified to be given a lumbering elephant in the form of the Vultee Vengeance dive-bomber. Danny and the Vengeance would be partners for the next four years, fighting in Burma to support the 'Forgotten Army' in battles which were as ferocious and as important as many being fought in Europe.
As he had acquired his first computer at the age of 90, at times the travails of Danny and his laptop became almost as tense as his account of his first dive-bombing sortie. It has been a real pleasure and a privilege to work with Danny, now in his 97th year, in collating his hundreds of posts into
In with a Vengeance, an e-book in which his affection for India and its people shines out as well as his patriotism.
Here are the tales of the terrifying crash which almost cost him his life, how Danny lost an elephant and had Indian bureaucracy chase him for months, the screaming practice dive from two miles above Madras airfield that terrified the populace, the gas warfare trials with mustard gas sprays, the threat of court-martial rather than burn the cantankerous steed for which he had developed a grudging affection, and even a wartime romance amid the scandalised society of Bangalore.
In with a Vengeance is intended for Danny's family and friends, not for general release. If Brevet readers would like a copy, send your email address to me, Geriaviator, as a PM.
Edited to add: please give me a week or two, replies coming already, easier to send out in batches.