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Old 16th Dec 2015, 13:43
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pettinger93
 
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danny42c

Talking of the Chindit base workshop: A great deal of imaginative engineering improvisation took place there. One of the many items air dropped into the jungle were some of the earliest petrol outboard motors, (then a very new invention), used by the Chindits to drive rafts etc across jungle rivers. As delivered, they were very unreliable, so had to be rebuilt by the army engineers at the base and 'run in' before use. To do the latter, they were each placed in old fuel drums filled with water, and run until the requisite period had passed.

When clearing Dad's house after his death, we found several original note books containing the code words and numbers used by Chindits in the jungle to order their requirements for the next airdrop, and to give their location. They were marked 'top secret', though I guess that no longer applies after 70+ years. We have passed them to the Imperial War Museum, though I have no idea what they will do with them.
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