teeteringhead (your #28),
You've really got me foxed ! The D.Tel is quite specific:
..."The Squadron flew its first operation on February 16, 1944, when Gill led 14 of his aircraft to attack Japanese positions in the Arakan...On July 15 the Squadron flew its last sortie, when Gill led 12 aircraft in an attack on an ammunition dump at Le-u...
AFAIK, the Vengeance squadrons in India never operated anywhere except from the Arakan and Assam.
8 (IAF) was in the Arakan from 12 December, 1943 onward, and I can only assume that 84 (RAF) joined us there (on one or another of a score of "
kutcha" strips which we were constantly moving between), but I have no knowledge of their arrival or whereabouts (as I was '
hors de combat' myself from 24 February 1944 until 12 July, when I had a couple of "refresher" flights (still in Arakan). I would guess that the monsoon would have broken certainly by the end of May. This would have put a stop to any dive bombing until September at the very earliest.
So what about "
On July 15 the Squadron flew its last sortie, when Gill led 12 aircraft in an attack on an ammunition dump at Le-u" ? For a start, I don't believe the '12' (
everybody was using box-of-six all the time by then). Perhaps he led two separate boxes (as was done on my first 'op', six from 82 and six from 110).
Then how would a VV get from the Arakan (all the strips were close to the coast), and I have used Cox's Bazar (very little more West than any Arakan strip) as one leg to get to Hopin (which is near Le-u) as the other to get a distance of 378 miles....Impossible - we haven't the range ! And what about the monsoon ?
It's quite beyond me ! And it begs the question: what were 84 doing with their VVS
before February, 1944 (having come out at the end of 1942, like all the other ex-Blenheim squadrons ?) This we do know (Peter C. Smith: "
Vengeance"): anti-submarine patrols, from Ceylon and the Madras area.
As for his DFC, whatever he got it for, it wouldn't have been in a Vengeance.
PR ? - very likely. Your:
...Did they give DFCs as end of tour BZs as they now do with OBEs?...
I believe many of the Bomber Command DFCs/DFMs were "survivor's awards" after a full 'tour' of ops. And richly deserved, too, IMHO !
Danny.