Faraway Places with Queer Sounding Names.
Jaganpvs,
Many thanks for an interesting link ! I've noted my comments down against the page number of the Album stated on the left margin.
2 Begumpet - I never was there. We never had a Beaufighter on the Unit. Vengeance, a Harvard, and a borrowed Mosquito and a Thunderbolt for a short time, and that was all.
3 Hyderabad, and
4 Begumpet - I was never there, so no comment.
5 "Snooty Ooty" Never there. flew over a few times.
6 Sgt Milburn - name rings a bell, but my only Sgt was Williams.... The photo of the VV is certainly the one of me in FB986 (MkIII) over the Western Ghats taken 30 Oct '45. I am carrying mustard gas on that occasion, IIRC - but we later washed out the tanks and used them for the early DDT trials. (I believe 110 Sqn took Mk IVs over to W.Africa (Takoradi ?) and did more extensive DDT trials later).
Checked my logbook. I had FB966, FB975, F986 and FD100. (I don't fly FB977 till 28 Jan '46) FD100... All taken for scrapping to Nagpur 12 Mar '46 (Because all Mk.IIIs were supplied Lend-Lease) ...The"Oxbox" (Fordson 15cwt canvas tilt) certainly looks like ours !
7 Not my place ! And is that an Anson ?
8 Note substantial RC Churches in Trichinopoly and Coimbatore, All that part of SW India (from Goa south) was old Portugese RC missionary country, and the legacy endures.
9 These regimental badges are carved in a rock face somewhere on the old NW frontier (that of my father's Regiment [King's Liverpool] will be among them). They were given a spring-clean each time a battalion of the particular Regiment came out (on rotation) from UK.
10 Certainly a T/Bolt. Never knew that any photos had been taken. Was it ours ?....The fiery end of FB966 ? I'm sure we had no fires in my time. The background is strange. If it is VV FB966, I last flew it on 15 Nov - my log simply says: "Self - Passenger F/O Evans - to Yelahanka (abortive) - 0.15".
So what happened ? Don't remember any fire. In any case, if it was on our patch, what was our old WOTI ("Fire Crew") doing ? - certainly not trying to put out any fire. And the onlookers seem to be just that. Was it a deliberate burn ?
It could be our Mossie. But who is "Red" ? (I don't remember any "Red"s (except "Red" McInnis, from whom I inherited the Unit when he went back to Canada in March '45). We had a vet for a pillot, can't remember his name, but certainly not "Red".
12 "Temple Car" - this is an original true "Juggernaut".
13 "Riga (sic) Mortis". He is having a kip on his rolled-out bedroll on a charpoy.
14 None of the names or faces ring a bell.
15-23 No comment.
24 Thunderbolt HD195 is ours (on loan) all right ! (last flown by me 1 Dec '45).
The visiting Corsair ? - no recollection, must have flown in off a carrier at sea. Why would it visit ? - no idea. I was away in Kashmir from mid Dec '45 to end Jan '46. May have crept in then.
Thanks for the link.
Danny.
Last edited by Danny42C; 25th Jul 2014 at 19:33.
Reason: Add Index Digit.