Ex-French P-40Fs

[CJE]

On 11.01.43, two pilots of GC 2/5 Lafayette left their formation headed for Thelepte (Tunisia) and landed in Southern France recently occupied by the Germans.
Does anyone know what is the subsequent fate of the two P-40Fs?
Thanks in advance.

[Tom1UK]

Hi Christophe

As far as I know one force-landed probably through lack of fuel, a foto of this a/c appeared recently on Ebay

If you have info on the other a/c I too would like to know its fate under German control

regards

Tom Willis

[CJE]

Hi Tom!

I have no info at all.
In fact, both pilots defected from the new French Air Force under Allied control and voluntarily landed in German-occupied France.

Chris

[Alex Smart]

hello CJE,

I have tried to find it in the site archives section, but could not.

I am so sure that these two a/c were asked about some time ago and the two pilots were named, but no further info on them or the two a/c was available at the time.

Have you contacted Buzz, he was quite interested in this subject .

Hi, Tom,

Any chance of the ebay link for this photo please ?

Alex

[Rémi Baudru]

One of the two pilots told me, ten years ago, that they bellied on a beach near Perpignan. He was thinking that the two planes where scraped.

[CJE]

Alex,

I do have both names but was looking for infos re their planes.
Who is buzz?

Chris

[BlackWolf3945]

Originally Posted by Alex Smart

Any chance of the ebay link for this photo please ?

I believe this is the photo in question...




'Tis also visible in this photo, fifth ship from the front.


Click for larger image
Image source: Library of Congress website


Fade to Black...

[Alex Smart]

Hello CJE and Blackwolf,

CJE, I have sent you a PM.

Blackwolf,

Many thanks for the Photos.

Much apreciated, I am sure by all.

A Question.

Number "11".

In the Air Britain book "The British Air Commission and Lend-Lease" the serial numbers of P-40F's are given under Kittyhawk II .
Apart from the RAF Serial number and USAAF - AAC Serial number there is also a number that is the list number,eg-
1 - FL219(RAF) - 41-13752(AAC)
to
150 - FL368(RAF - 41-14060(AAC)

Could it be, is it known if the number 1 or 150 would have been used used
on the a/c as the side number on the fuselage as in RAF - FL219 - Side or a/c in Squadron number "1" if used by the French unit ?

If so then "11" would perhaps have been FL229 - 41-13772 had she been used by the French.

From the list neither of the examples I give were used by the French ,and those in the second photo seem to All be from a later range of serial numbers as "114" is clear on all that can be seen.
That narrows the search down a lot, as from the book only a few of those were used -
FL343 - 41-14019
FL344 - 41-14020
FL347 - 41-14064
FL348 - 41-14025
FL353 - 41-14065
FL354 - 41-14033
FL361 - 41-14044
Plus two know from US stocks
41-14514 and 41-14530


Thanks
Alex

[CJE]

The other one was "white 9" also on the photograph !

As for the serial numbers, many P-40Fs came from 33rd FG - hence the names on the nose which are more American than French (Cricket, Lola...). GC 2/5 was reequiped late November 1942 drawing from local resources off Lend-Lease. Further allocations were made under Lend-Lease.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi Alex

Not sure what you want to make of the numbers 1 to 150 in the Air Britain book, but whatever they are (I believe they are a sequential number issued by the compiler of the book and not anything used officially at the time), they are not side numbers. If you look at number 11, you say this could possibly be FL229. If you look in the book at page 110, you will see that FL229 was never issued to France. Checking Air Britains FA100-FZ999 you will also see that all those FLxxx Kittyhawks were far too late to have been involved in the "incident" mentioned by Chris. These Kittyhawks were (at least officially) transferred to France on 31.3.1945!

Those Kittyhawks Chris are talking about were field transfers from USAAF to France in North Africa.

Oh how I wish someone in USA had done similar publications as Air Britain has been doing for so long now about RAF/RN aeroplanes

Cheers
Stig