Danny alarms his passengers and enjoys a Concert
Calibration Flights, far out in the Bay of Bengal, were boring and the mind tends to wander. Sometimes it wandered to the extent that you didn't watch your fuel gauges and let a tank run dry. The engine would cut, not to worry, just select a full tank, switch on the booster pump. In five or ten seconds fuel worked down the lines and the motor would come back to life.
But the man in the back, not expecting the cut any more than you had, would have had no idea why the engine had stopped. If he were of a nervous disposition (understandable in a single engined aircraft over shark-infested seas), he might not wait for his pilot's order to bale out, but be half-way over the side before you could yell "Get back in - it's all right!" Consensus was that a Vengeance would ditch badly, because of the shape. As far as I know, nobody ever tried it, the advice was to bale out and trust to your parachute, Mae West and inflatable dinghy (and if you're going to do that, the sooner you get out, the better).
Such episodes did not foster good Crew relations. In the Mess one day, P/O Crichton (Ag ) loudly declared (not entirely in jest): "Stupid bloody pilots let the tank run dry, and I get dysentery !" (To which I retorted: "We'll have you chucked out of the Union !") Luckily, no one actually "abandoned ship", for it would have left the pilot in an unenviable position.
He'd stay with his ex-crewman as long as his fuel allowed, of course, while calling for help on the R/T. There was an air-sea rescue launch in Madras, but if you were miles out to sea, it might take hours to get out to you. If the dinghy were not kept in sight the whole time, it might be impossible to find again.
Hopefully you might get a relief aircraft out there before you had to leave. A flying boat from Redhills would be ideal, as they had enormous endurance (I think 24 hours in a Catalina). There would be no point in being "faithful unto death"; that would just give the rescuers two emergencies to deal with instead of one.
One evening a bit of culture was laid on for us by way of entertainment. Normally this was non-existent, apart from the rare visit by an ENSA-style Concert Party (the TV comedy: "It ain't half hot, Mum" showed them to perfection). These affairs were toe-curlingly awful as a rule, but of course we all had to put on our best bib-and-tucker and turn out to show appreciation. After all, these people meant well, and were doing their best, even if, in most peoples' estimation, they ranked among the Horrors of War.
This time they had really gone upmarket. Somehow they'd assembled a full concert orchestra, and found a F/O Navigator who had been a virtuoso concert pianist. For venue, they'd secured the Banqueting Hall of the Governors of Madras. These old nabobs had done themselves proud in their day, the place was a mini Versailles. Needless to say, there was a full and appreciative audience. I heard the Grieg Piano Concerto No. 2 (?) for the first time there, and was very impressed with the whole programme (and the magnificent setting made it a memorable evening).
I was quite content to serve out the remaining months of my overseas three-year tour at Cholaveram. I would be going home in the autumn "trooping season". I'd done my "stint at the coal face" (I would never dive a Vengeance again); there was little more useful I could do out there now. What else could they possibly find for me in these last months?
And what would the future have in store for me when I did return to the UK? Even if the war in Europe was clearly on its last legs, our war out East looked good for years yet. Might I be sent back here after a month or two of leave in UK (for there might well be nobody left there to fight ?) "There's no discharge in the War" (Kipling: "Boots"). We were in for "the duration of hostilities". All was in the lap of the Gods.
But whichever way the cat jumped, I'd be on a troopship about October time.
(I never learn!)
'Night, all,
Danny42C
"Return, please!"......."Where to?"......."Back here, of course !"
Last edited by Danny42C; 18th Apr 2016 at 11:31.
Reason: Correction.