[drgondog]

Franek - interesting question. I was aware of earlier pick ups in different a/c.. but very sure of the Mustang facts.. as well as another unpublished pick up attempt involving Lenfest (354FS Ops Officer flying my father's WR-B Jane III) and Brown (top 355FG ace just shot down after destroying his last German a/c on the ground) and Al White (future B-70 Test Pilot). On October 3, 1944 Lenfest attempted to pick up Brown and got stuck in mud. White landed nearby expecting to give up his WR-S to Brown and Lenfest but neither saw him and ran to the woods to become POW later.

White took off successfully and returned home for a royal chewing out.

As to the RAF piggy back influencing Priest - it could have. The other unique aspect of the Priest rescue is that Royce Priest trained as a Glider Pilot prior to entering Flight School and the skills he developed may also have contributed to his decision to pick up my father..

Another interesting aside is that my father had made his first belly landing (of 4) in WR-[u]B[u] Jane II 44-14293 on August 15th and flew Chuck Lenfest's WR-F on the 18th when he lost that to flak before being rescued by Priest..

Did not mean to elaborate or hijack this forum, but this is an example of Hall missing important fact in "1000 Destroyed". I still prefer "Mission to Berlin" as a more sound history.