P-40N-5 US serial 42-104949 #49 Miss Kathleen II

[Digger]

Purchased this project and this is the information I have on her so far;

The regular pilot who crashed this aircraft was lt Dan Davids. After he force landed his a/c at Hopoi (Lae) on 24 Oct 1943
he was rescued by an L-5 liaison aircraft and taken to POM then shipped back to the USA due to injuries. Years later
Lt Davids changed his surname to Rowan and bacame a famous US television personality ie Rowan and Martin's Laugh In
with Goldie Hawn et al.

As a side issue, two weeks earlier he shot down a zeke. On the date of his crash he was pursued by at least 3 other Japanese a/c
that caused significant damage to his mount. He only managed to evade them by flying Katheen II through a narrow opening in a
Mountain ridge line which caused the pursuing enemy a/c to become unsettled resulting in one crashing into the mountain's side.

Due to the damage the a/c sustained he force landed in a clearing with the aircraft partially breaking apart. Wounded, with both gun shot and
a very bad back injury he managed to get out of the cockpit and rest on the remaining wing until he was spotted and rescued.

Can anyone add any more information on Lt Davids, why he changed his name, or any more information on the aircraft.

thanks in advance

Peter

PS Pictures of project on web soon.

[bdk]

http://ahc.uwyo.edu/usearchives/invento ... 09765.html

In 1955 Rowan changed his legal name from Daniel Hale David to Dan Hale Rowan.