harrym,
First, thank you for the reassurance that you're not leaving us just yet, and for the links you gave me (a treat in store there!) Avation occupied the rest of your working life, you say? Then we'll all settle down in keen anticipation of many more Posts to come. Now, referring to your #6813:
It would seem that we both served under the badge of the Tiger of Hyderabad, but at different times. Did they still cart round with them that bit off a WWI fuselage on which it was first painted? (We still had it when I left in December '43 - our troops called it "The Constipated Tiger", on account of its melancholy appearance).
I well remember those "bucket" paratroop seats: a much better scheme was to settle down comfortably on the mailbag pile at the back. But I can't recall any rubber bungs sealing firing holes behind the windows (perhaps it was a later modification?) It sounds the same idea as the arrow slits in the walls of medieval castles ("arrow loops" ["loups?] or "balistravia" [Wiki]).
But how would you use them? I can't seem them as being very effective against attacking aircraft in the air. Stationary on the airstrip, I would have thought it better to get the troops out and deploy on the ground, for the aircraft skin is not as good as a castle wall !
16 inches of rain in 24 hours sounds about normal for a place like Akyab in the first days of the '46 SW Monsoon. We logged 13 inches in 12 hours in '45 on the Malabar coast, although it would have arrived a week or so earlier than yours as we were so much further West. "The rains come down and the snakes come up", the Old India Hands told us. "Monsoon Cape and gumboots" was the order of the day.
We were told that the reason for the morning preflight draining of the tanks was due to their remaining empty or part-empty overnight: the 100% humid air which filled the empty spaces would cool during the night and the moisture precipitate. The obvious answer was to fill tanks ASAP after landing, we always did this with our VVs and never had this problem. But rain getting in through through the filler caps ! You would think that this would have cropped up and been fixed prewar with the civil DC-3s in the US.
You're quite right about single engined pilots and open water not mixing very well ! Although all the Wright Cyclones were normally very reliable, there's no sense in "sticking your neck out" when you don't have to. When 110 moved forward from training at Madhaiganj (W.Bengal) across to Chittagong for ops in '43, we didn't fly direct across the Bay of Bengal, although it was well within range, but dog-legged overland, although that was much longer and needed a fuel stop at Jessore.
And, two years later, when I was calibrating radar off the coast near Madras, we were not at all happy, 50 miles offshore with one donk over the shark-infested Indian Ocean !
Cheers again, Danny.