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This incident is described in Don Lopez' book, Into The Teeth of the Tiger...
At Kweilin, we were based on the fighter strip, not the main runway at Yang Tong Airfield. The 74th usually operated from this strip. It was so narrow that the wings overlapped when two P-40s took off in formation. When our aircraft were parked along the runway during the daylight hours, their noses extended over the runway edge.
A few days after we arrived, I was in the alert shack reading when I heard a 76th Squadron P-51, which had come in from its base at Suichwan the night before, start up and taxi into take-off position. After the pilot completed the run up and mag check, he started its takeoff, and after only a few seconds, he chopped the throttle and aborted the takeoff. I thought that he had some kind of engine problem, but someone outside yelled, "Hey Lope, that Mustang just ran into your airplane!" I rushed outside with everyone else to see the damage to my P-40. It looked undamaged from a distance, but it had a P-51 wingtip imbedded in the front of the fuselage right in the middle of the shark mouth. It looked as though the P-40 had spitefully bitten off the wingtip of its slicker, faster compatriot. A closer examination revealed that the P-51 wing tip had hit my prop and the front of my lower engine cowling, ripping off the tip and leaving it in the teeth area.
Surprisingly, the only damage turned out to be to the cowling. This lower section, known as the bathtub to the mechanics, covered the oil and coolant radiators, and the bottom of the engine. It also served the all-important role of tooth bearer. My crew chief, Sgt. Key, removed the damaged bathtub and replaced it with a spare that had not yet had the teeth painted on. He carefully inspected it for other damage but could find none. The prop had rotated when it was hit so the engine was not overstressed. I took it up for a short test hop and everything checked out. My morale suffered for a while since our painter did not have his equipment with him. I became a toothless tiger and had to gum the Japanese for several weeks.
Fade to Black...
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