Here yo go Grunherz enjoy.
From the Book "Kidd Hofer-The last of the Screwball Aces" by Troy White.
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Although he enjoyed flying the Hurricane,Ralph was not exactly overjoyed with his assignment.For starters his assignments were less than glamorous.286 Squadron was an Army cooperation unit and his duties there mostly involved target towing.For Ralph,the Second World War was a grand adventure and he wanted to experience it to the fullest.As one might expect,target towing was not the sort of duty suited for someone with the outgoing,adventurous personality that Ralph possessed.
So Ralph started doing what most red-blooded young pilots do when they are bored--low level stunting.On May 1,1943 he ripped six inches off of his prop after getting a little too low on a low pass.A few days later he ripped off his tail wheel in a similar fashion.
Itching to get into combat and have a shot at the enemy,Hofer arranged a transfer to the U.S. Army Air Force.On June 11,1943 he was officially transfered to the AAF.Soon he was off to Atcham for transition to P-47 Thunderbolts.Ralph's first flight in the P-47 was on July 7.It was at Atcham that Flight Officer Hofer came under the tutelege of Squadron Leader George "Screwball" Beurling,DSO,DFC,DFM, and hero of Malta,whe ended the war with 31 air-to-air victories.
At Atcham,Beurling would impart his knowledge of deflection shooting to Hofer.This would come in handy when Kidd found himself in the epic air battles that would take place in the sky over Hitler's Europe in the coming months.Beurling and Hofer had similar personalities when it came to military discipline--neither cared for it much.
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My favorite Kidd story is hard to pick but I like this one......When new pilots came into the group they were ordered to do a check ride.The new guy would take off and follow a couple of vets around the field and area to get familiar with the terrain,field,ect. The Kidd would takeoff after the new guy went up,and he would take Duke with him.He would then pull alongside the new guy and scrunch down in the seat with Duke on his lap.The new guy would look over and see a P51 flown by a German Shepard!I can only imagine a new guy who is nervous already,looking over and seeing this!
The pics are of Kidd Hofer and Duke.
http://members.sparedollar.com/proffers/Kidduke_new.jpghttp://members.sparedollar.com/proffers/Hoferduke.gifMore links on the Kidd
http://members.sparedollar.com/proffers/d-hofer.jpghttp://www.fourthfightergroup.com/resource/hofer.htmlhttp://www.noseartjacket.com/salem.htm Frodo
