harrym, (your #6451, just in),
Will have a good hard look and will come back to you on this after I've got a few "quickies" away (the first of these relates to your #6401 and #6410). But, for starters, "Sub" does have the meaning "All" or "The Whole", eg "Sub Sahibs", I'm not sure about "Sub-cheese". Must look it up (we used it a lot to mean "everthing"). Probably dog-Hindi, as Urdu ("I urdu first time !") mostly the lingua franca of present Pakistan. And then again, it might not be.
Back to your #6401: "a night in the boondocks"
"The Boondocks is an American expression which comes from the Filipino word "bundok" (Wiki); this is obviously from the same SE Asiatic root as the word "bundoo" we used for "jungle" or "out in the sticks".
And your #6410:
"In later life I discovered my great-great grandfather had died in Calcutta, some time in the 1820s; he was serving in the East India Company's private army, and probably was a victim of the combined effects of a tropical climate....." (it was said: "The life of a man is two monsoons" out there in those days).
Had you known at the time, you would almost certainly have been able to find him in the Park Road Cemetery in Calcutta, where I believe burials were taking place up to 200 years ago.
Cheers, Danny.
Pom Pax,
A few Posts ago, I said: ".....there are interesting general points which deserve thought and reply; I may put in a few words about these in the next few days..."
Straight on cue, in comes the last one - which I shall deal with, most unfairly, first. Your tale of your Dad and his treasured Morse key hits the button with me.
On my five months "Deferred Service", I carried on with my C.S. job. All the older men in the office were WW1 veterans. One of them had been a Signaller: he improvised a double-acting Morse key from a twelve-inch ruler rocking across a pencil on the desk (surprisingly effective - try it).
On this I learned Morse: nearly all forgotten now except 'C' (- . -.) - 'Murder, Murder', he knew it as: I remember it as 'Umpty-iddy-umpty-iddy' on the 'double-acting' "key" ruler.
Your Dad sounds like a Signaller at some HQ; all Unit signals units under its command would, I presume, have to be on separate W/T frequencies. He probably had to call all the units in turn, to ensure that no one pressed a trigger after 11 'ack-emma' on the 11th.
"Send this all day ? Case of: "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted", surely !
Cheers, Pom Danny.
Smudge (#6427)
I well remeber the "pork-pie" hat they gave me (wore it for years). The brown brogues weren't bad, either.......D.
pzu (#6437),
Tried both links, no joy, seems I have an old-fashioned version of Internet Explorer, would bring it up to date if I knew how - but thanks, anyway !
Your chap must have been in one of the Mk.IX (T)s; until I'd had a ride in one (out of the question now), would be very doubtful about it feeling the same as the single-seaters. The RAF had no use for it (other than providing the IXs for the conversion). Can anyone tell me, was it possible to instruct # from the back seat (did you have dual u/c control, for a start ?)......D.
Chug (#6443),
Tried the links (all same result as pzu's) - but struck oil with the South American River.
Yes, I've got the book and regard it as my Bible for the Vultee Vengeance. Very good on the production history, and plenty of good pictures (and no, I'm not in the Index myself - although many of the people I've flown with (and mentioned here) are - so it's no use guessing !)
Another good source of info and photos is BHARAT RAKSHAK (go for 8 Sqn IAF)......D.
Taphappy (#6447),
Et ad te, Johannes ! - a fellow "Pes-Sinister", I see........D.
Harry Lime (#6448),
Tried Google-Translate, came out with something about a chap called Sweeney - don't know him ! ......D.
My regards to you all, Danny.