NigG (#380),
An interesting picture indeed - but I was curious to see that the VV shown had no visible armament poking about from the back. I never knew anything about the anti-submarine patrols, but I suppose the rear guns were unnecessary, as the possibility of a Japanese interception was nil, and taking out 400lb of weight (2x 0.303 plus ammo, ammo tanks and mountings) can only be a good idea.
A surprising thing is that the standard RAF roundels had not been replaced by the blue and white ones, but January '43 was early days (a Google/Wiki search tells me that the South East Asia Air Command was only set up in the August of that year). Yet I'm sure we went to war in the May wearing blue/whites.
Did your Dad say anything about the tactics to be used if a submarine were spotted on one of those sweeps ? (yes, I know I should know, for 110 had been doing them from Karachi before they went to Madhaiganj where I joined them just after Christmas '42. I should have asked then, but had other things on my mind).
They would have had to be sure that any submarine they found on the surface (did they ever find any ?) was not "one of ours" (as far as I'm concerned, if you've seen one submarine, you've seen 'em all). You can't do that from 10-12,000 ft, so they would have to hunt low, say 2-3,000. Supposing you found an enemy one, what then ? The 0.300s in the wings could do a sub no harm, your bombs would have to be fused "instantaneous", or with "rods", as dropped low level, they'd probably bounce off the sub casing in the very unlikely case of a direct hit. And which would be better, to drop them one at a time (the switchgear allowed that) in four separate attacks, or all four in one go ? (bearing in mind that the sub would crash-dive and not be a target for long).
I reckon Vizag - Cholaveram about 450 miles "as the crow flies", but of course the East Coast main rail line would follow the curve of the coast. Stops would be frequent, so the time-table would allow a succesful rendevous to be arranged. Don't know Vizag, but Cholaveram was a very pleasant place. It was really a northern suburb of Madras, close enough to the sea to have a nice breeze and not too hot in summer. I spent the first three months of '45 on a Calibration Flight there, and thought I would be going home in the autumn "trooping season". But Fate and the "exigencies of the service" dictated otherwise.
Danny.