Tags in frames were cut from the left and right walls of the wing gun chute of a P-40 Kittyhawk Mk.I which served with RAF and -very likely- with RAAF before it was transferred to Turkish Air Force in 1943.

The tags were left attached to the curved side walls of the gun chute, which were constructed from two layers of stainless steel sheets spot-welded together.

While its serial number remains unknown, this Kittyhawk is known to have been one of the two Turkish P-40s that escorted three battle-damaged USAAF B-24D Liberators returning from Operation Tidal Wave—the bombing of the German oil refineries at Ploiești, Romania—on 1 August 1943.

Back in 2002, the two wing gun chutes were recovered from the Turkish village where one of the B-24Ds, Hitler’s Hearse, was forced to make an emergency landing that day. The Turkish Kittyhawk that remained with Hitler’s Hearse until its landing also landed beside the bomber a few minutes later. Both aircraft are known to have remained at the landing site for several years, during which many of their parts were removed by local villagers. Apparently, two of those parts were the Kittyhawk’s stainless steel gun chutes which were upcycled into the tags in this very special release of FIGHTERTAGS.