Quote:
Originally Posted by kolya1
Simply that such incidents happened when unknown planes were instantly attacked without sufficient ID
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The thing is, the aircraft had already been positively ID'd as German Fw 190s and Bf 109s. When Yaks and Lavochkins entered the scene they were logically assumed to be German as well! They didn't look like unknown planes, you see, they looked like the German ones. Same camo (grey), same shapes (109 & Yak; 190 & La-5). Germans were known to fiddle with their markings, so the lack of markings on the upper wing didn't help the Soviets' case.
Even top-ace Ray Wetmore, who is known for having had an extremely sharp eyesight, nearly opened fire on an La-5.
I heard a story once of a Mustang shooting down another Mustang, after having mistaken it for an Me 262 - thinking the latter's droptanks were jet nacelles!!
Blue on blue incidents happened pretty often, unfortunately. Like you said Pierre Clostermann mentioned a few. Indeed Typhoon and Tempest units were occasionally bounced. Their relatively unfamiliar planes and green-grey camo being mistaken for low-flying German JaBo's. But I guess the 18th March incident is so striking, because of the fact it happened on a large scale between two nations who would soon be locked in a long and dangerous cold war.
PS. Check out Brian Cull's post if you haven't yet... Interesting and tragic stuff...
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=2670