I heard Col Bob Scott ("God is My Co-Pilot" author) tell this one:
He was flying from a base in China during WWII in a P-40, and just returning from a brief maintenance hop. He called the tower for traffic advisories. The tower radio was set up on loud speakers across the .50 cal pits around the hangars, so they could know the traffic situation, and be warned if any Japanese aircraft were approaching. They had all been shot up a few days earlier by some fighters, and so were still a bit skittish.
Scott called in a few miles south and used the convention where his call sign was the last two digits of the aircraft serial number, which happened to be xx-x10.
"One-Zero is 4 miles south," he said.
As he entered traffic, he was followed by several steady streams of .50 Cal tracers, all bent on his distruction. As he made violent evasive maneuvers, he grabbed the mike and said, "Cease Fire! Cease Fire! This is aircraft TEN!! on downwind!!"
Last edited by NickLappos; 26th Feb 2005 at 14:48.