Hello, I've been lurking, intermittently, on this thread for months if not years. I am particularly interested to read your posts, Danny. My father was an engineer officer in India and Burma from '44 to '47, latterly I think in charge of (?) a glider squadron. Like most of his generation, I know next to nothing of what he got up to, apart from a few amusing stories. So it's very interesting indeed to read your posts on life in India, Danny, thank you for them.
Some things you mention bring back memories of his tales. He said Indian gin made him (and everybody else) sick very quickly. Potassium permanganate everywhere. I'm surprised you are so casual about malaria, I'm sure he once said you'd be put on a charge for going out improperly dressed at the wrong time of year/day(?) owing to the risk of acquiring it. And somewhere buried in India at the bottom of a latrine (drilled incidentally by an auger) lies his silver cigarette case...
Probably the only sensible comment I can add to the thread is that he said (some) American-built aeroplanes were welded (to improve production speed) and therefore sealed for life - on the grounds they were more likely to be written off than require repair.