NigG,
Have been Indisposed for a bit and so off line. Bit of catching up to do.
(your #89),
...Re my father signing your log book: he also had jaundice and had a couple of weeks recuperating at Ooty, maybe around April '43 (?)... you weren't there too were you?...
Jaundice was a common sequel of malaria (he probably got that, too). By coincidence, I got them both in March, 1943. Now "Ooty" (Ootacamund) was a Hill Station in S.India, it would make sense for him to recuperate there on his way down to Ceylon. Flew over the place a few times, but was never there. With malaria and/or jaundice, he would be stuck at Madhaiganj until he was fit to travel, 84 would have had to go with the 2i/c.
...The maximum possible length of operational flights. Arthur records only one mission at 3 hr 25. Four others were 3 hrs or 3.05. They were with a standard bomb-load of 1500lb. As I said previously, they had to be very careful to conserve fuel... throttle right back and gentle climbing. That long one was in a Vengeance III...
Don't know how he did it, There was no extra tankage in a Mark III. "Throttle right back" - it wouldn't climb at all !
...half were with larger formations of up to 36 aircraft...
Could they have had three Squadrons there together (45, 84 and 110 ?) Possibly. Even so, would have needed a truly maximum effort. After my time there, anyway.
..(I thought people were supposed to launch lead at the enemy!)..
They used to be. Listen to this true story, which I've put in several times on this Forum, and tell me what you think.(Reported by Daily Telegraph 9.1.15):
..."The pair have said that one of their proudest moments to date involved helping to foil a rocket" [RPG ?] "attack on their base at Kandahar airfield in 2010. There was a high threat and the base was expecting an imminent attack after some men were spotted in a nearby ditch, setting up to fire a rocket at their accommodation block. They took the aircraft out to 15 miles from their position in the ditch and came down to low level, approaching at more than 500mph and as close to the Operational Low Flying minimum of 100 feet as possible, passing directly over them before heading into a steep climb. The rocket crew immediately scarpered in a truck and the pair felt they had made a tangible difference to protect their colleagues. The intention is to always use the minimum force required to provide the effect needed by the guys on the ground"...
Am I missing something here ? This was in 2010, and there was a war going on in Afghanistan (as we have 453 good reasons to remember). This is the enemy, and he is making ready to kill you (or some of your comrades) if he can. You are airborne in one of the RAF's most powerful weapons. You have a 27mm cannon. You buzz him off (as I used to shift a flock of goats off my strip before landing). So that he can come back later and try again ? (Better luck next time ?)
...That's partly why you are so venerated... you were challenged on behalf of the nation... and you met that challenge with distinction...
Very nice of you to say so, but as the D.Tel. obituarist said a year or so "They were just ordinary men who did extraorinary things". It was just our luck to be around at the time - your generation would have done just as well if the need had arisen.
...Gabrielson ending up suspended on his leash, upside down and half way out of the cockpit. He couldn't get back in and so released the quick-release catch. Happily he had had the foresight to clip his chest parachute to his harness...
This puzzles me. On the few occasions I rode in the back seat of a VV, I remenber I had a bucket seat with a pilot's parachute and four-point harness (same as in front). And see Vlad's marvellous bit of film on
Chugalug's Post on "Pilot's Brevet", p.129 # 2561. At 0.33, you can clearly see two pilot's chutes going aboard. "Clip his chest parachute" ?
...Here he was greeted by a well-armed Ursula Bower, the Naga's 'White Princess'...
Wonderful story, which I had never heard before. And they gave her only an MBE !!!
...Re the death of Keech and Watkins when they blew-up in their dive... I think the dog was Watkins' and he was in the rear, not flying...
But if he had to use his guns, the dog would be just as much a nuisance.
...He got through. Of course, it's a different procedure today... officer candidates are rigorously tested...
My procedure was a much more relaxed affair (I'm happy to say) !
Danny.
PS: Will have a look at your interesting #93 later.
D.