Chugalug,
The vision of a Hastings with a field gun or (and?) a jeep slung ("atween the roundshot" - like Drake !) makes my flesh creep. I recall a good story from Calcutta. There was a big munitions factory at Dum-Dum. They were losing a lot of stuff from pilfering; the guards on the gate spot- checked the offgoing shift; one chap was waddling along with difficulty, obviously in some discomfort. "What's the matter with you?"........"Elephantiasis of my scrotum" - (try putting that into Bengali !) - not uncommon there, it seemed.
They whipped off his dhoti, slung between his legs was the chuck off a lathe, weighing half a hundredweight ! (Off thread a bit, sorry, Mr Moderator).
I was amused by your reference to the "lavatory chain" which your second dicky had to pull. The u/c handle on the Spit Mk.I had the exactly that same white ceramic handle which graced the "smallest room" everywhere in those days (and vulgarly known as a "bog-pull").
I looked the Hastings up on Wiki. Quite a long charge-sheet, wasn't it? Was in Leeming (ATC) about '69, we had the JP, kindly RAF arranged to fly a body of all ranks to Warton (?) to see the new Strikemaster. Oversubscribed, of course, until it became known that a Hastings would be laid on for the trip. All our lads who had booked gallantly stuck with it, but made their wills! Did not go myself, said thing only a JP with hair on its chest - (Strikemaster, that is). That's my story, and I'm sticking to it !
Them were the days !
Danny
Last edited by Danny42C; 19th May 2012 at 02:01.