how could a "badly smoking" P-47...stop to loose smoke?

[Flyingkag]

thanks for the post,

In that case, the pilot (Lt Buchanan, 367th FS, KIA on december 16th 1944, grave in Saint-Avold cemetery), was "last seen 4000 feet, smoking badly, in a slight turn". Shortly later, his plane was witnessed by a german 14 old guy, who saw him coming slowly down and down and crash (nearly horizontaly) in his own family fields, without any smoke pouring out of the plane before hitting the ground.

Possible he flew 2 or 3 minutes between that statement of the wingman and the final crash...and the fire/smoking would have stoped as he still was in the air?

Thanks for your kind help! Mathias