MIflyer
Captain
A USAAF pilot flying a P-40F over the Med took a hit in one wing, blowing a hole right through it. The airplane seemed to be flying pretty well, but he thought it best to land at a friendly airfield rather than go all the way back to his base.
On the ground an RAF officer walked up and said, "Yank! Looks like you have a bit of a problem!" It turned out that fuel was gushing out of the P-40 and he'd been lucky that he had not had to ditch it in the ocean.
Then the RAF guy said, "Yank! Would you like another aircraft?" The airfield was an RAF P-40 replenishment center. So he climbed in one of their P-40's and flew back to his home field.
He got back an hour or so late, so his squadron knew he had to be down somewhere. But they were very surprised indeed when he landed in a British marked P-40 and taxied into his usual revetment. They had US markings on the fighter by the next morning.
Of course that Kittyhawk would not have been a P-40F like the one he traded in, but I guess that a V-1710 was not to much of a logistics challenge.
On the ground an RAF officer walked up and said, "Yank! Looks like you have a bit of a problem!" It turned out that fuel was gushing out of the P-40 and he'd been lucky that he had not had to ditch it in the ocean.
Then the RAF guy said, "Yank! Would you like another aircraft?" The airfield was an RAF P-40 replenishment center. So he climbed in one of their P-40's and flew back to his home field.
He got back an hour or so late, so his squadron knew he had to be down somewhere. But they were very surprised indeed when he landed in a British marked P-40 and taxied into his usual revetment. They had US markings on the fighter by the next morning.
Of course that Kittyhawk would not have been a P-40F like the one he traded in, but I guess that a V-1710 was not to much of a logistics challenge.
