And a Hawk 87A-3 fits the early "fat" roundels (Kittyhawk Mk IA - lost in 1942 maybe?)... Interesting when all will be sorted out :)

That would make it a Tomahawk not a Kittyhawk then surely, As far as i know there were later versions of the IIb that had no nose mounted mgs which would correspond to that line of thought.

Sutts, you have a private message.

He he, this was fun...

While browsing this list of the Desert Air Force:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Air_Force

To check the squadron codes for all the 1942 Kittyhawk I:s I was looking at 2 Squadron SAAF that was a suspect flying Kittyhawks in the desert of 1942... When looking at this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Squadron_SAAF

I scrolled and to my amazement coming from Sweden they currently fly JAS-39 Gripen :) It's a small world (even though I knew we sold Gripens to South Africa).

Still - HS feels like the best bet anyway...

From some quick research - the other squadron flying Kittyhawks for that time frame in Sahara where (omitting the USAAF naturally):

Code - Sqadron
---------------------------------
DB - No. 2 SAAF (now flying JAS-39 ;))
CA - No. 3 SAAF
KJ - No. 4 SAAF
GL - No. 5 SAAF
GA - No 112. RAF
LD - No. 250 RAF (Kittyhawk IIA though)
HS - No. 260 RAF
OK/DJ - No. 450 RAF

No.

An 87A series is a P-40E, which makes it a Kittyhawk. Just look at the thing. It's not a Hawk 81. The spinner, engine cowling, and wing gun locations are all totally wrong for a Tomahawk.

No Hawk 81s (Tomahawks in RAF service) were delivered with the nose guns deleted. What happend was that the RAF was having troubles with the change to the Colt manufactured .50 syncronised nose guns, so the training units that had the aircraft at the time often did not use them.

there's a chance(if that plane is from the 260th) that that plane we are looking at might have been shot down by a legend... Hans-Joachim Marseille

Opponents were Kittyhawks I from No. 260 Squadron RAF and Tomahawks IIB from No. 2 Squadron SAAF and No. 4 Squadron SAAF. These units had the following losses in this engagement: three Tomahawks and one Kittyhawk missing (one pilot later returned wounded), two Kittyhawks and two Tomahawks crash landed after aerial combat, and one heavily damaged and one lightly damaged Kittyhawk. On the German side I.JG 27 reported five P-40s, II./JG 27 three P-40s shot down. The combat reports indicate that Marseille's opponents were Kittyhawks from No. 260 Squadron RAF. His opponents were Squadron Leader Hanbury who crash landed and Sergeant Wareham who was killed in action.[

there are more 260th pilots listed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Marseille

I only would argue that this aircraft has no apparent battle damage whatsoever, and also that it was found some 200 miles from any known action. (I have a friend in the area) I'd rather suspect that the bloke got lost and ran out of fuel. Of course I admit that I'm only speculating and that the only way we will ever learn the true story is to identify the particular craft.

That said, you definitely have a sharp eye Oddball, I never saw that now quite obvious B on the fuselage.

is this the plate with the info we need?
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-f...az%2520191.jpg

here are the rest of the pics
https://picasaweb.google.com/1146825...eat=directlink

not me sir, Mazex saw it :)