Danny (...
SO excited that you're back!!
)
Ah... now you have got me scurrying around! I'm not sure about the absence of the rear guns in the photo. But I seem to remember reading, possibly on the back of a photo, about an aircraft being without them. The squadron was about to hand-over the Mk.1 Vengeances and receive Mk.IIs... and the flight was being made as part of the transfer down to Cholavaram, so I don't know if that might have accounted for their absence. Certainly when they moved down to Ceylon, in anticipation of a Japanese naval attack, the guns were in situ (of course).
I have been more successful with checks about 84 conducting anti-submarine patrols when they were in Ceylon. In short... they weren't! Neither the Squadron history, 'Scorpions Sting', nor Peter Smith's 'Vengeance' refer to such activities (though, yes I recall Smith referring to such patrols by other squadron(s) off the Arakan coast). Smith does give an interesting description of 84's activities in Ceylon. Essentially it was honing their dive bombing skills, either with live bombs on an unfortunate rock off the shore of Colombo, or dummy dives on Naval warships, giving the ships company a useful and spectacular taste of what it might be like to have a force of Jap aircraft diving at them, the ships zig-zagging in evasive action. The other dummy targets were ground-based ones like Colombo harbour. Flt Lt Hawke recalled that he thought on that particular 'attack' that his wireless set was burning-out, only to realise that it was the smoke from a harbour chimney that was filling his nostrils! (p.105-6 in 'Vengeance'... I know you have it in your possession, Danny.) Arthur's log book also confirms the period of practice attacks and honing of personal skills... quite a few of the crews being 'new on type'. Low level flying was also a prominent feature of training.
After three months of that, the Jap naval force hadn't materialised as expected and Arthur was ready to move on. The opportunity to put his case came when they had a visit from the Deputy AOC SEAC, AM Garrard and AVM Lees, AOC Ceylon...
Arthur on the left, looking very youthful! They had made their visit to help sort problems, and in that vein, Arthur put it to AM Garrard that if the Japanese threat was no longer considered to be imminent, would it be possible for 84 Sqn to head north into battle, rather than continue with yet more training and swimming. Two months later the Squadron had moved up to the Army training area at Ranchi and was in training with the 14th Army, prior to the big push into Burma. By that time, word had got out that the Vengeance was a formidable aircraft well-suited to close air support of ground troops and the soldiers were very keen to learn how to employ it operationally.
So 84 didn't develop tactics for submarine attack in so far as records show. But for the destruction of enemy submarines, Danny, wouldn't the weapon of choice have been depth charges? And if so, wouldn't that have been outside the capabilities of the Vengeance?