Rough War by Walt Shiel

On 20 June 1944, Paul bid farewell to the old P-40:

Today, I left Moran with a P-40 in a flight of 8 ships on a ferry trip. Enroute to Panagarah, India, where we are going to bid the old P-40 adieu. I hit an eagle which knocked off my prop spinner. Scared hell out of me, for at first I thought the damn plane had blown up. It vibrated terribly, but after the shock left me I fooled around with the prop pitch and finally it smoothed out a bit. My spinner was knocked completely off however, and I could get only 150 mph, so I fell way behind the rest. I called Bob Frey, and he dropped back with me. Then, to make matters worse, Bob dropped his maps in his cockpit and couldn’t reach them, so not only did I have to navigate, but nurse the crippled P-40 along.

I finally found Panagarah, however, and landed. As I taxied to a parking revetment (to add insult to injury), a tire blew out! So my last P-40 ride was not without excitement. The rest of the flight got lost and came in 35 minutes after we landed! I felt better after that! Had a wonderful supper!!

But stop by tomorrow for Paul’s observations about spending a bit of time in India (a little farther from the front lines).