AMERICAN SPITFIRES

[THE PILGRIM]

During World War II, we furnished the British with a lot of airplanes.
And they furnished us with a few airplanes.
One of the British airplanes that the US operated was the Spitfire.
The Army Air Forces operated four groups of Spitfires.
And for a short period time- are you ready for this?
The U.S. Navy flew some Spitfires.
Now for a Paul Harvey moment, the rest of the story.
We just had a great thread on Bob Hoover. Bob Hoover was one of the spitfire pilots.
He got shot down and captured by the Germans. When you get captured it is your job to try to escape and Bob did.
He was sneaking around in Germany trying to figure out what to do. He sees a German air base. He moves in closer. Then he sees in FW 190 sitting there with the engine running. And nobody around.
They wouldn't miss one FW 190 Now would they? So he jumps in the 190 and takes off. He managed to fly back to an Allied base in the Netherlands without getting shot down by either side.
Yes indeed, Bob Hoover is one of a kind.

[Texas Star]

I read a post here recently about another US pilot who was shot down and escaped to England in a FW-190, but Hoover's tale is new. Thanks.

I read a book by a US pilot operating over Italy and the Adriatic areas. Until they got enough Mustangs, he flew Spitfires and they had both MK V and MK IX examples.

A US -marked MK V was shot down near Anzio and there's a photo of the plane at the beach where it crashed. Many here have probably seen that picture.

[GatorFarmer]

I had a model of one of the U.S. marked Mk Vs when I was a kid. I think it was made by a Turkish company.

[zzzippper]

I saw Bob at an airshow in the early 70s. He was a rep for North American Aircraft and flew their Shrike and a P-51. Hell of a pilot. He flew aerobatics with a glass of water on the dash and never spilled a drop.

[Kernel Crittenden]

IINM the Americans flew the photo-recon version of the Spitfire right up till the end of the war.