I think the fin in the water story is really Jungman/Jungmeister in Algers harbour after the war. IIRC flown by a guy from Portugal. Happy to be corrected, as always!
I thought it was a French pilot, after the war. I worked for Kermit Weeks when he bought his Jungmeister, and remember that a manual that came with it had that pilot’s name hand written on the cover, but can’t remember what the name was…
On topic, somewhat, this Yak 7 (converted 11 of course, with Allison engine) is now based at our local airport, undergoing some maintenance before flying again:
