African vehicles

[Lang]

David,

I would say they are American aircraft. The dress of the men is certainly more American than British.

Lang

[Keith Webb]

That looks like a Merlin engined version of the P40 too without the carby intake on top.

[motto]

You're right Lang, the personnel look to be more American than British with their long trousers and some appear to be wearing baseball caps.
During the course of the operation P40s from the US Army 33rd fighter group were flown into Morocco from USN escort carriers.
Assuming Keith is correct.
Would the Us Army Air Corp have been operating Merlin powered P40s?
It would seem unlikely.

David

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by motto

You're right Lang, the personnel look to be more American than British with their long trousers and some appear to be wearing baseball caps.
During the course of the operation P40s from the US Army 33rd fighter group were flown into Morocco from USN escort carriers.
Assuming Keith is correct.
Would the Us Army Air Corp have been operating Merlin powered P40s?
It would seem unlikely.

David

Hi David,
From July 1942 to mid 1943, elements of the US 57th Fighter Group were attached to the British and Commonwealth's Desert Air Force P40 units. Maybe the tail fin flash is to denote this alliance?

This would also explain why a British Bedford lorry was on the airfield

[motto]

I think you've made the connection Richard. The aircraft flown in off the carrier/s were 75 P40Ls which were indeed Merlin powered.
And the 57 FG pilots had been operating as part of the Desert Airforce before the Torch Operation.

David

[Lang]

Dave,

I have just found an old movie. The fighters were not US or UK but French. you will note the tail markings are a bit different to the usual British ones.

The aircraft were transferred in Morocco from the 33 Fighter Group USAAF to GC11/5, a French squadron associated with the WW1 French/American Lafayette Escadrille. The American ground crews stayed with them for some time until the French crews were trained up.

More Packard Merlin p-40's were operated by the Americans than anyone else so that engine does not denote ownership.

Lang

[motto]

That's what was needed Lang, more information and it all comes into focus.
The red, white and blue flash represents the tricolour not an RAF connection. I did wonder about the narrow white bar.
There is a goodly chance that the aircraft in the photo would be some of the 75 P40Ls flown in off the carrier/s.
I'd have thought the USAAC would have been more resistant to the use of a foreign power plant especially as it barely enhanced the aircrafts performance.

David

[Tony Wheeler]

Sorry to disagree Lang, but these are not the 33 FG a/c you mention. As Richard says they're 57 FG a/c attached to DAF, hence the RAF fin stripes and red prop spinner. As part of DAF the 57 FG arrived in Tunisia after supporting Eighth Army at Alamein and across North Africa.

Nearmost a/c appears to be 65 FS. What looks like nose art is actually a squadron insignia - presumably required because the early 2-digit a/c code did not identify the Group or Squadron. As USAAF Groups increased in number they quickly adopted the RAF identification system (alphabetic squadron/aircraft code) and this was in use during Torch operations (although possibly not by all USAAF Groups involved).

That said, it's possible these a/c also wound up with the French eventually, as they seem to have received most of the Allies clapped out P40s! However in this photo they are still with 57 FG in Tunisia, and most of them probably went on to Sicily and Italy.

Interestingly many a/c around this time are seen with USAAF and RAF markings together, something which is commonly explained as an attempt to deceive the French. Personally I don't place much credence in this theory, I suspect it had more to do with Allied command structures during this period.

Concerning the Packard-Merlin - this was introduced in the P40F, and the a/c pictured is an early production P40F, identifiable by the short tail. These were found to have directional stability problems due to the increased torque, so the rear fuselage was extended approx 2' on all subsequent P40s produced. The long tail P40 can be identified by the rearward position of the fin relative to the tailplane, which remained in situ. They were introduced towards the end of the North African campaign, so there may be a few in the background of this 57 FG photo. Like most DAF squadrons they would have been operating a variety of P40 models by the time they reached Tunisia - quite possibly including a few earlier Allison engined models which made it through unscathed.