A Story of War

I fly up to Kolar, formatting on a Hudson at about 8000′. Very cool, and I have a blanket at night, but it blows a lot of red dust and I am always dirty. Six a/c under Nazir Ullah and mine up here. We live in huts as at Trichinopoly but there are no baths and it is hard to get washing water if you have no bearer. We bring up a stone jar full of beer for the first two nights but a contractor has now turned up and laid some on.

I fly around and look at Kolar gold fields and today I examine Bangalore from about 500′ as 10/10 cloud low down. Group Captain Farquahar of Trichi is O.C. 171 Wing up here as W/C Yorke is ill with malaria. We go and visit Kolar gold fields and have a bath, beer and billiards in the Club there. I pick up an article on the “Origins of Snooker” by C. Mackenzie – the inventor being Neville Chamberlain in Jubbulpore.

Yesterday 258 Squadron from Ceylon arrive and I have a bit of a party with two or three of them out of my bottle of “Canadian Club”. I want to go into Group (HQ) at Bangalore and stay tonight, but G/C is too keen on his war (Exercise Roy) which starts tomorrow, and won’t let me go. Wagstaffe up here. I must return to Trichinopoly soon and see what sort of cock-up is being made of things.