BEagle and PeregrineW,
The Welsh language "snub" seems to have been more extensive than I thought. Perhaps it wasn't just us.
In India, the IAF officers used Hindi or Urdu among themseves in the same way as the Welsh, although they were all fluent English speakers. Again it was odd to hear "Formation" (say) interjected into a flow of Urdu. There was a wonderful example of this used with effect in the much loved "It aint' half hot Mum" TV comedy series many years ago.
The punkah-wallah, in reply to a question regarding the Colonel's activities while on recent leave, lets loose a stream of Hindi which ends in "having it off" !........D.
Chugalug,
To the best of my (limited) knowledge, training accidents in Spitfires were rare (none in my three months at 57 OTU), at least compared with the postwar carnage with the T7. IMHO, I don't think a dual Spit would have made much difference. Now the Harvard could be a little devil - I reckon it more of a handful than any Spit !
Seems the buried Spitfire saga has ended. Pity - we all enjoy a good fairy tale........D
Geraviator,
Tiger to Spit in one bound ? The jury must now be out forever on this one (as in so many of the wartime mysteries). I must of course defer to your QFI (S/Ldr Mock). My case would have been that, with 150 (or even more) hours on the Tiger, the lad would have complete instinctive control of an aircraft, and could concentrate purely on the added mechanical problems he now had and in which he had been thoroughly instructed.
It is curious that it was never tried out in the war (when Prunes were in seemingly inexhaustable supply and anything went). I heard tales of people being taught ab initio to fly (under the hood) from after take-off to long finals. Others did the first 40-50 hours all by night, before they were allowed to see the light of day (when, so the legend went, they were horrified). 150 (or 200) on a TM would save a lot of money.
The test was: try it, it might work. In this vein was the four-engined primary trainer (4 x Pobjoys). I've seen a Recognition silhouette of this, so it must have flown. All these tales reached me out in India, thousands of miles from the action. But somebody must still remember !.........D.
Keep it coming, chaps,
Danny.