Spitfire somewhat "obsolete" by 1945? Of course, I can understand if they were available and something is better than nothing if your economy is shredded. I was a child so I don't remember too much but growing up in post war Texas but my parents used to talk about their friend who was an engineer with Chance Vaught in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Interesting guy. He used to tell folks he had "flown with RAF." My parents chortled at that, but tolerated his story. I found out a few years back that he might have been telling the truth: there was briefly an RAF base in Terrell, Texas (not too far from Dallas) just prior to US involvement in WW2. He was Canadian and could very well have volunteered, perhaps "washing out" as a pilot at that base and therefore becoming an engineer who designed engines instead...there were a few other such bases, ones in OK and AR, for instance. Evidently, they helped train RAF pilots at a time when Britain was undergoing lots of air attacks from Germany and desperately needed a safe place to train their pilots. Texas was also a good place since the weather was so much better. The bases were secured under Lend Lease, according to the staff at the RAF "museum" at the old Love Field Airport in Dallas (I've spoken with staff there on the phone).
My mother took me to Europe way back in 1956 and I dimly remember how dreary everything looked in Amsterdam and even Paris! Versailles was a neglected relic, not the glittering showplace it has been restored to be.
No wonder the European Union was created. Europe is a wonderful place to go now, even tho it is expensive as hell. I'll be visiting London in May, my first trip back since that trip in the 50s...
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