World War II Kittyhawk fighter found in Sahara

Oxman

Oxman

Well-Known Member
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A remarkably well-preserved fighter plane that crashed in the Sahara Desert during World War II has been found 70 years later, shedding new light on the pilot's struggle to survive.

The American-made Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk was discovered by a Polish oil worker, Jakub Perka, who was exploring the desert in Egypt, The Telegraph newspaper reported. It was about 200 miles from the nearest town.....

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_new...-in-sahara-shedding-light-on-pilots-fate?lite
 
Reminds me of the B-24D, Lady Be Good, found under similar circumstances in eastern Libya in 1958/59 after having disappeared on the return leg of a mission to bomb Naples, Italy in 1943.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_(aircraft)#Wreckage_discovered_in_1958

The below is kind of creepy:

"Parts of the plane were scavenged or returned to the United States for evaluation. A few aircraft with replacement parts from Lady Be Good later had inflight problems. A U.S. Army de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter with an armrest from the bomber crashed in the Gulf of Sidra. Only a few traces of the plane washed ashore and one of these was the armrest from the Lady Be Good"
 
MikeD said:
Reminds me of the B-24D, Lady Be Good, found under similar circumstances in eastern Libya in 1958/59 after having disappeared on the return leg of a mission to bomb Naples, Italy in 1943.
Click to expand...

Except Lady Be Good was found just 16 years after it went down vs 70 years for the P-40.
 
Hopefully the P40 will have a better end result than Lady Be Good - somewhere on wix there's a pic of it's current state, sitting somewhere in Libya, basically a pile of random aluminum junk.
 
How the heck do you scan this 'six-pack' ?


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RIP to the pilot.

That bird looks like a lot of fun to fly.
 
beasly said:
You flew that thing?
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T-37? Yes, about 125 hours worth or so. It was the USAFs primary trainer for UPT from about 1960 to the mid 2000s. Every USAF pilot flew in one, and most all Navigators during their training. I also flew the exact tail number T-37 that was featured in the movie "Airport '75".
 
MikeD said:
T-37? Yes, about 125 hours worth or so. It was the USAFs primary trainer for UPT from about 1960 to the mid 2000s. Every USAF pilot flew in one, and most all Navigators during their training. I also flew the exact tail number T-37 that was featured in the movie "Airport '75".
Click to expand...

<seriously>
You flew that IFR?

<not so seriously>
What was Leslie Nielsen like in Airport 75?


<seriously>
That looks like fun.
 
IMC a good number of times in it. I came from freight dog into the USAF, so it wasn't difficult; but new pilots with no prior instrument flight time also learned initial instruments in that thing.

Ha! I flew the jet that had starred in the movie.....I wasn't IN the movie. :) It had a neat little plaque inside of it, commemorating it's work.

Tweet is a fun as heck jet. Very maneuverable, aerobatic.

Btw.....where did my Mosely quote come from? :D
 
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