Buttons & Blood
Chugalug,
You lay before me a veritable feast of topics !
Quoting from you:
.......... "staybrite" buttons were what to look out for, otherwise old type brass ones needed to be replaced with a new set"........ (I'm not sure. The "staybrites" I got hold of were wretched hollow bits of pressed tin; the anodising wore off in a month and then they looked scabrous, far worse than any dirty brass button. Were there better-class ("officers for the use of") solid anodised buttons to be had ?)............."Old type brass ones needed to be replaced with a new set"..........(I take it the problem was the King's or Queen's Crown on the button, but it would need an eagle-eyed Inspecting Officer (or Mr Warwick !) to spot that. And in any case, as I remember, they left us "old hairies" alone with our (nearly polished away) King's crowns - like the Observers with their "Flying A***holes").
............"As to the JPTU, it was hell, but someone had to do it! We were accommodated in a rented villa by the shore on Penang Island",........(nice work)......."along with the ex-UK team of JP pilots and an MOD scientist. The latter planned each day's tasks,...... the team would commute on the Ferry to the mainland and then to RAAF Butterworth"..........(where there was no single accommodation?)
......"A lot of the "marine" items required were contributed by "mariners"......(not me, Guv)..... "within the Squadron, so the call mainly was for timber and paint. As I was away "observing".....(good alibi)..... "I cannot say how that was acquired, but there was of course a large RN presence then"......(Union Jack, spring to the defence of the True Blue !) "No doubt inter service co-operation ensured that time-ex and scrap material was put to good use".....(I bet)....I'll believe you, Chug old chap - many wouldn't !
"The "FAC" would talk us onto the target, and the time taken to acquire and whether it was by the pilot or his observer duly noted. No doubt there was far more to it than that, but that was the gist of it"......(this sounds suspiciously like the Indian Rope Trick - two men and one shovel !).......
"The trial was to assess the "COIN" concept and in particular the efficacy of the JP for it".......(Britain had long experience in Subduing the Tribes: I reckon you were always better off with a big, slow, well armed and armoured single piston which can hang around for ages on location)...... "Bear in mind that the Strikemaster variant was soon on offer".....(JP with hair on its chest)...... "and Vietnam was then raging and re-writing the rule book, as most wars do"......(true, and at least we then had the sense to stay out of unwinnable ones which were none of our business).
........"a Tannoy made for blood donors to report to the Medical Centre. Given that we were aircrew and engaged in flying we were told that we could not join that queue".......... (In the early '50s, the similar call rang out at Thornaby. Danny nobly responded - nobody gave a toss whether you were flying or not).
It really needed Hancock to do it justice. "Have you", they said, "ever had any of these ?" I ran an eye down the grisly list. "Well", I said, "I've had jaundice once, dengue once and malaria three times". "Out, out", they cried. "What about my tea and biscuit ?", I asked (affronted - it wasn't my fault they didn't want my blood). "Out, out" they repeated. It would be fifty years before I got my own back and used up most of their stock in the NE NHS region.
Cheers, Danny.