Give that man a prize! I'm going to have to get a little more cryptic with the 'easter eggs' - you guys are too good at this.

As to Soda & Whiskey, I just watched the movie "Flyboys" and they introduce one of the lions in one scene. It's only a character in one short scene and it's alone, but someone in the "Authenticity Department" found out about a lion in the Lafayette Escadrille. Hollyweird doesn't always get many facts correctly, but they did this time. Actually, I rather like the movie and find it to be entertaining and fairly authentic, at least as far as equipment and such, considering. Ever since I spent a weekend enjoying everything at the Olde Rheinbeck Aerodrome, I've enjoyed the WWI aircraft very much. I hope posting a link here is OK. http://oldrhinebeck.org/ It's a fabulous place to visit to see very authentic old WWI (and earlier) aircraft actually fly and perform.

Franz Von Werras' staffel had a lion cub, named Simba.

Erich Hartman had a dog ... and I think that Galland did too...

Good stuff...

Thanks, Louis. There's a definite theme emerging here - how about this for an unusual mascot; Hans Philipp (JG54) and his pet fox...these things are damned hard to train.

There was a Coyote mascot that was raised from a pup by a gentleman named "Wild Bill Crump"

who flew Thunderbolt and later Mustangs from Martlesham Heath while he was assigned to the 356th Fighter Group.

The Coyote was named "Jeep".

And actually flew 5 missions over Europe with "Wild Bill !

Sadly poor Jeep met his demise at Martlesham Heath when he was accidentally ran over and killed... now get this... by a US Army Jeep ...

So "Wild Bill" had his best friend painted on the side of his P-51 as a remembrance for his beloved pup. You can see the round painting just below the cockpit in the picture below.

Jeep was buried with full honors and a plaque was installed at the burial site.

Wild Bill returned to Martlesham Heath many years later in 1992,

and the plaque was still there.

I hope that the place is still a memorial for the pup today.

David, your photo with the fox pup in the photo with Hans Phillip from JG 54 reminded me of the story of "Jeep"... I hope you don't mind my posting this here.

It would really be cool if one of our friends "across the pond" could stop in and check up on Jeep, and post their findings somewhere or even just send me a PM... I would greatly appreciate that..

My old friend Ed Malo flew with this unit and told me the story. About a year ago I was online and sure enough, there it was ...
Here's a color photo of Bill flying his Mustang and you can clearly see the portrait of Jeep on the side of the fuselage...

Here's a link to the story if anyone is interested...

http://wildbillcrump.com/

It tells how the pup was found when only two weeks old, and how it was "smuggled" to England on board the Queen Mary...

Never fear, Louis. The link below is to a veteran bikers' 'treasure hunt' and if you scroll down enough (there's some other awesome sites they have to 'collect') you'll find Jeep 'NMI' (no middle initial) Coyote's plaque right there and large as life in 2018.

Inspiring.

http://www.edwardio.co.uk/MANCRIDERS/BEZ/MancRiders%20Challenge%202018.pdf