[BITList] Australian Kittyhawk found in Egyption desert

[John Feltham]

Last month a Polish team discovered a crashed P-40 Kittyhawk in the Western Desert in Egypt, near Wadi al-Jadid. 

Egypt is a big place, but why it was never spotted before is not clear – perhaps it was covered by sand; at any rate, it is remarkably complete – not a scrap of rust and the roundels still quite clear. The cockpit is incredibly well preserved – it’s more than seventy years old, after all! It is most likely from 260 Squadron and came down on 28th June, 1942, at the beginning of the First Battle of Alamein, following Eighth Army’s flight from Gazala and Tobruk. 

That Eighth Army survived to fight another day after their drubbing in May and June ’42 was in small part down to the efforts of the Desert Air Force, of which this aircraft was one. However, it seems the plane crash landed – the undercarriage is retracted, and most of the ammunition was still in the wings. 

Interestingly, the parachute was also still in place, suggesting the pilot survived the landing. He is still reported as ‘missing’ however, which suggests the poor bloke survived the landing but not the desert. Wadi al-Jadid is rather in the middle of nowhere. 

Anyway, what a find!
 
Photographs:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114682566226043469349/Zdj_samolot?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKjxkt6rkNTFKg&feat=directlink#

Select the slide show.


ooroo



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