Category: 1942/07
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July 30th 1942
We have a funeral that evening and I am a pall bearer. I get the middle, a bad position, and the sweat streams down all over my body despite the hour, 7pm. Then standing to attention by the grave during the service is an ordeal. Little tricklets of sweat everywhere, and I’ll swear the flies…
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July 28th 1942
Larsen goes to Razmak for an artillery shoot but bursts a wheel on landing. He mends 22 punctures in the inner tube but the valve has gone as well. Sgt Ridley flies up with a spare, does a ground loop and writes off his aircraft. Larsen complains of being sniped whilst salvaging the aircraft. Yesterday…
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July 23rd 1942
I go up the Tochi and have a look at the Datta Khal area, where the forthcoming operations are to take place. The fort has a ‘T’ and disc out, but I don’t know what it is, so drop a message on Miramshah about it. Pierce does a photo trip and on the way back…
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July 18th 1942
I go up flying again – and engine test and manage to land OK on the strip. We have some shocking downpours of rain. On 17th we leave, 6 AC for Kohat, via Gaga-Cawnpore-Delhi and Lahore (night stop). Eight hours flying the first day, uninteresting, and we have our first beer for sometime at Lahore.…
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July 10th 1942 – Ranchi
My birthday yesterday, though you wouldn’t have known it. I go to the flight office in the morning and the monsoon pours down and eventually water invades the tent, despite my drainage system. Then Robin White rescues me in his car and we return to the mess. The ‘drome under water and only fit for…
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July 4th 1942 – Ranchi
The tea party is a success and we sit on the club verandah talking from 4.30 to 6.45. Dusk falls, it gets dim, very pleasant, but she has to go out at 6.45. I go home and change and return to the club where I meet Colin Jaques, Benje and Bill Barclay (10 G.R.). We…
A Story of War 