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Old 26th October 2013, 22:02
aaatripp aaatripp is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Newport, RI
Posts: 167
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Re: 22 Sep 1941 - Maax Hammer 'Lest We Forget

Again, RIP cousin Maax.

After docking with the rest of "The Boom Gang" in Rangoon on 15 Sep 41 they traveled to Toungoo by railroad, arriving at the base late that night.
Monday the 22nd of September was a stormy day and Maax went up on his fam flight.....even though he was an Army P-40 pilot he had not flown in 3-4 months but was raring to go. It would be his final flight.

The Erik Shilling book DESTINY contains more information about the crash of Maax's P-40 in the jungle near Toungoo, Burma. Erik went with the doc and the Greenlaws out to the crash site. Harvey made Olga stay in the car (good thing due to the wading and the leeches encountered on the way from the road to the site).

Maax must have been in the process of recovering from his inverted spin when he ran out of altitude as his P-40 entered the jungle canopy in an almost vertical attitude. Judging from the minimal damage to the trees and the relatively small impact crater Maax was going straight down and his remains were found atop the engine. The wings were folded up like an accordian.

Some AVG books mistakenly show another crash site as Maax's; however, this cannot be as the wings are intact in that picture. Those photos no doubt show the crash site of former Navy pilot John Dean Armstrong on 8 Sep 41 following his midair collision with fellow Tiger Gil Bright during a mock dogfight.

Thanks to the Tigers for providing details about Maax in their books!

Tripp
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