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Old 16th Sep 2002, 15:50
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newswatcher
 
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ORAC,

Of the seven American pilots who flew during the BofB, only one - PO Fiske was actually killed during the period 10/7-31/10. The rest were killed later in the war. Andrew Mamedoff, now a Flt Lt, was one of 4 killed when they crashed in bad weather on the Isle of Man on 8/10/41, whilst 133 Eagle Squadron was flying from Fowlmere to Eglinton for further training. To compound this tragedy, two of the pilots who survived were killed in accidents before the end of that month.

It is interesting to read later on in the article from which you extracted your information, about the problems that the "simple" transfer of the squadrons, from the RAF to the USAF, caused. None of the seven had flown with the USAF, and therefore there was the problem of what rank to give them. Additionally, since they had not qualified within the USAF they had not been awarded wings, and so this had to be sorted.

Also the RAF did not want to release the aircraft without compensation from the US.
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