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I read C.V. Glines' article on blood chits with much interest, although I did not see anything on the type of chits issued in North Africa and the Middle East to aircrews operating in those areas. My initial flying experience during World War II was in those areas, and we were issued chits that were printed on paper.

The greeting printed in the chits I was issued in that theater read, in part: "To every noble Arab, Greetings and peace of Allah be upon you. The bearer of this letter is an officer of the United States of America, assisting the British Government and a faithful friend to all Arab Nations. We beg of you to treat him well, guard his life from every harm and supply his needs of food and drinks, and guide him to the nearest British encampment. You will be rewarded generously in money for all your services. Peace and mercy of Allah be upon you."

Later, when I was assigned to the China-Burma-India theater, we were issued chits that were printed on cloth. Some individuals had them sewn on the backs of their flight jackets, but others were advised by old-timers in the theater not to do so because they provided very good targets for the enemy.

During the "Hump" operation, some crews were forced to bail out, even though they realized that their chances of survival in the mountainous terrain of those parts were minimal. Some few fortunate crew members were rescued by local tribesmen and brought out of the wilds, returning to base two or three weeks after they left. Since many of these natives were addicted to opium and had little use for money, they wanted their pay in opium. Of course, the chits meant little in situations such as these anyway, since these were mostly people who could not read. Although some of the tribesmen were friendly, many lives were lost at their hands.

Doug Ogilvie
Hayward, Calif.

Blériot Blooper

In the article "Military Aviation's Revolutionary Beginnings" in the May issue, the caption beneath the painting on page 52 showing René Simon in flight over a force of Mexican Insurrectos, as well as the first paragraph of the text, refer to his airplane as a Blériot XII. Not so–it is a Blériot XI.

The Blériot XI and XII were distinctly different aircraft. Model XI was a mid-wing monoplane, the XII a high-wing monoplane. The XI had a conventional single stabilizer whereas the XII had two horizontal stabilizers. But the clincher, to the best of my knowledge, is that the XII was flown by only one person, Louis Blériot, primarily at various air meets in France during 1909.

The model XII was largely forgotten after Louis Blériot, flying his Model XI, won the London Daily Mail prize on July 25, 1909, for being the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel. Later, more than 800 XIs were built.

In addition to making one of the first military reconnaissance flights, as described by author Ron Gilliam, Blériots were used to set speed and altitude records and carried the first official airmail in the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, South Africa and Australia.

Sanford Solarz
via e-mail

Editor's note: The aircraft mentioned on page 52 was indeed a Blériot XI.

P-40 Variant?

I really enjoyed Robert Guttman's article ("Hawk with Shark's Teeth: Curtiss P-40" in the May issue) in which he traced the P-40 through its many modifications and models. However, as a boy growing up during the years of World War II, I recall a designation that he failed to include, the P-400–a P-40 with a zero on its tail.

Daniel H. Amberg
Gunnison, Colo.

Editor's note: I enjoyed your tongue-in-cheek P-400 designation for the P-40. Of course, there really was a P-400, an export version of the Bell P-39 Airacobra, 253 of which were repossessed by the United States from Britain in December 1941 after America entered World War II.

The U.S. designation for the repossessed aircraft in U.S. service was P-400. They were used mainly for training and for emergency fighter reinforcement in the South Pacific theater. P-400s were flown by the 347th Fighter Group at Guadalcanal in 1943.

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