P-40F flown by Thomas E. Cox of the 85th Fighter Squadron, 79th Fighter Group in mid 1943. The 79th FG was attached to the British Desert Air Force since late 1942 and had fought all the way to Tunisia from Egypt (this explains the RAF style fin flash and red spinner). With the Axis cleared out of Africa in May, the "Flying Skull" squadron then participated in the reduction of Pantelleria, as well as the invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy.
Cox's P-40 one of several 79th FG aircraft adorned with large paintings of pin-up girls on the rudder. These were painted by one of the ground crewmen, Joseph Pumphrey. Apparently, the prudish "higher-ups" thought his excellent artwork to be vulgar and they were eventually removed. Cox's pin-up was dubbed "Miss Memphis" in honor of his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. The serial number on the rudder's port side was covered by fresh RAF Dark Earth to give the "Miss Memphis" less cluttered backdrop. He also had the name "The Crump Machine" painted on the cowl. This name was in reference to Tennessee Democrat E.H. "Boss" Crump, a fixture in Tennessee politics whose powerful political organization had been coined "Crump's machine" by the press. The 85th's "Flying Skull" emblem was painted on both sides of the cowl. U.S. insignias are in 6 positions, with the aircraft's code "X36" surrounding the fuselage roundels.
Cox completed 80 missions and was awarded the Distinguishing Service Cross, Air Medal, and 5 Oak Leaf Clusters.
