The May 1968 issue of USAF Aerospace Safety had this gem of a story. It has nothing to do with the OP subject of good airmanship, but brought back a few memories for me from Mustang days. The story was called “Tips for Tail Draggers” and described flying the Mustang. It starts thus:
“Ground loops later during the landing roll are generally less severe and are usually caused by day-dreaming or by trying to turn off at excessive speed. Think back to when you were taxiing out (in the Mustang). If you had to S, you started the turn with a little rudder or by tapping brake, then almost immediately you had to start coming in with rudder on adding a touch of opposite brake to keep the turn from tightening. You were taxiing pretty slow – a must for tail-draggers – and had little trouble maintaining control. But if you were to increase speed you’d soon have your hands full. So, do as the old timers always cautioned.
Don’t relax until you have the beast on the chocks and shut down, and always make sure you have her slowed to normal taxi speed before you try to bend her off the runway. Like any phase of flying, it’s much easier to stay on top of the situation than to regain control. But if you do lose control on the ground, don’t lose your cool, which reminds me of a story.
An acquaintance was waiting to take the active at Amarillo on winter during the war and the place was a sheet of ice, which isn’t too unusual for Amarillo in the winter-time. As he waited, a WASP - female ferry pilot to you younger types – entered traffic in a Mustang.
She’d no sooner touched down than the bird swapped ends, slid backwards for a few hundred feet, ending well off the shoulder. About all the tower operator could see was the snow she blasted into the air. He radioed, “P51 that just landed, are you all right?”
Without pause a slightly miffed female voice came back, “Hell yes! I land the &%$*## this way all the time!”