This 'n that
Danny - I presume the ‘Tiger of Hyderabad’ was incorporated into the 110 Sqdn crest, though I have no memory of what it looked like – never saw one, or 96 Sqdn’s either. The only badge/crest I recall carried on my Sqdn aircraft was 194’s, and that on only a few; it was in any case unofficial, having incurred grave displeasure from the College of Heralds who maintained there was no such thing as a flying elephant!
Re passenger ‘seating’, having once travelled (unwillingly) as pax on a C130 I was appalled to discover that the awful hammock-style ‘seating’ along the cabin sides (a la ye olde Dakota) had survived into the late 20thC! Does the US military have some strange theory that by carrying troops in extreme discomfort, they are thereby more likely to be infused with battle ardour?
Your sentiments re single-donk flight over water are shared here! One day, doing a bit of fun flying in a Harvard, I was smooth-talked by the local AAF into acting as their radar target and was not at all pleased to find myself about 30 miles east of Changi, coast barely visible in the distance.
What you write concerning condensation in near-empty tanks is very believable but still does not explain why other contemporary avgas-fuelled aircraft (to my limited knowledge anyway) did not apparently suffer from the same problem, even though the larger ones were seldom filled to full tanks but only to the level required for the next task.
Fareastdriver – If a Halifax could be followed by its oil slick, when following a Beverley there was no need to scan ahead and below – just follow the smoke trail! Seriously, the sleeve-valved engine’s thirst for oil made one wonder if this more than offset any claimed economy in fuel consumption as against the poppet-valved rival?