WTF? My uncle had a flying cat in WW2.

[amerikat]

My brother just emailed me the link from the 44th fighter squadron group on MSN.


"I thought you all would enjoy this story..............
During WWII 2Lt John Tedder of the 44th FS returned from rest leave in Auckland with a pet cat. He had figured that it would be easier to look after rather than a dog. Tedder's flight was scheduled to take their 4 P-40s up to Guadalcanal from the Quion Hill Airstrip on Efate. Not finding a C-47 to take his cat up to Cactus, he decided to bring it up with him in his P-40. During the 2+ hour flight the Lts P-40 seemed to have a hard time maintaining straight and level flight and much activity was noted in the cockpit. After landing on Ftr. 2 the Lts P-40 made a fast taxi to parking where the canopy came back and the cat came flying out of the cockpit. The cat was none to worse for the wear but poor Lt Tedder seemed to almost in a state of shock and had numerous stratch and puncture wounds. He was off flying status for a week to recover! It also took the ground crew quite a bit of time to clean up the blood (the Lts) and de-fur (the cats) the cockpit. Eventually they made up but sadly Lt John Q. Tedder of Trenton, NJ was KIA on June 16, 1943 over Guadalcanal when he and a Navy VF-11 F4F collided while attacking a Zero".


http://groups.msn.com/44thFighterSquadronTributePage/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=227&LastModified=4675506200167195313

[Pierre.Suave]

1. That is a cool story

[amerikat]

3. I'm sure my father(his brother) never heard that story.

That whole generation is dying off now.

[Pierre.Suave]

4. My grandpa flew in the USMC

in WW2 as a Fighter Pilot, he had many many stories to tell. But he always told the non-combat related stories the most.

[amerikat]

7. Veterans rarely talk about combat.

I guess they try to remember the lighter times and not burnden us with scary stuff.

[ulysses]

2. that is a very cool story.

Funny as shit, too. I'm trying to imagine flying a plane with a cat losing it's mind in the cockpit. :D

[amerikat]

6. I moved two cats in the car once without cages.

About a hundred degrees, no air conditioning and windows up. Cats shed like crazy when they are freaked out. One of the worst half hours of my life.

[Elidor]

5. o.0

omg. As someone who once attempted to travel with a cat loose in a car, my hat is off to your uncle. I can see exactly how that went down, and I'm sure it was very painful.

And I salute him for his service.