Air attacks on civilian aircraft

[Brian]

Hi guys

Were there any rules governing attacks on civilian aircraft in war zones aircraft during WWII?

Obviously, aircraft carrying civil markings could not always have been recognised - Lufthansa Ju52s for example - although it would seem on occasion that civilian markings were ignored.

Cheers

Brian

[vingtor]

Swedish DC-3s on the route to UK were attacked several times by Luftwaffe and two aircraft were shot down. Also British and Norwegian aircraft on the BOAC route between Britain and Sweden were attacked as these were enemy aircraft.

Nils

[Nikita Egorov]

Brian,

I do not know the situation on the West, but as regards to the Eastern front German fighters attacked every plane they could. Thus, on November 30, 1941 JG54 intercepted 11 PS-84, which evacuated children from blockaded Leningrad. Ostermann and Lautenschlager finished one plane that crashed in flames, killing more than thirty children on board...

[Maximowitz]

There was the attack by V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40, on flight 777 which killed the British film actor Leslie Howard in 1943, the myth being that it was ordered by Josef Goebbels owing to Howard's propaganda value to the Allied cause. I believe this has now been debunked.

Do we know which pilot of V./KG40 was responsible or was it a shared claim?

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by Nikita Egorov

On November 30, 1941 JG54 intercepted 11 PS-84, which evacuated children from blockaded Leningrad. Ostermann and Lautenschlager finished one plane that crashed in flames, killing more than thirty children on board...

The question is, of course, if they were wearing clearly identifyable civilian markings, or Red Stars (or a mix of both). Also, did the transports wear camouflage scheme?
All the photos I've seen from this period show the usage of camouflage (often applied directly on the original aluminum livery), and Red Stars.

[kolya1]

I'm not quite sure, but wasn't a Finnish airliner shot down by two Soviet DB-3 bombers after the ceasefire in 1940 ?

There were also several cases of airliners shot at by Japanese fighters in the Far East prior to 1941. You may find the details in Chris Shores et al., "Bloody Shambles - vol. 1".

[shooshoobaby]

Brian ,
During attack on Pearl Harbor , several Light Planes were shot down.
1 Pilot Baled . 2 Pilots , 2 Passengers Killed. Another Pilot Killed when
Strafed after Landing.
Future WAFS Cornelia Fort was also flying a Light Plane but managed to
evade and survive strafing after landing. She was First WAFS Pilot to be
KIS in 1943.
Mike

[Stig Jarlevik]

Guys

The way I see it, civil aircraft from Nations partaking in the war were all valid targets. During the war years, civil aircraft didn't fly tourists or pleasure flights. Basically all were on important schedules and used by either politicians,diplomats, business men (although often relatives were onboard as well), spies and other "under ground" individuals. Many of those onboard contributed quite a lot to each Nations war effort. Very often to "nail" a civil airliner probably caused more damage than to shoot down a bomber or fighter aircraft.

It became far more difficult when it came to civil aircraft from the Neutral States, such as Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal. The Germans when going over on the defensive were very much aware of what went on when let's say Swedish airliners went to Britain, but it was awkward of course to shoot such aircraft down since the same airline (in the Swedish case) also routed into Berlin. Politically it was no secret that Sweden also tended to "communicate" more and more with the Allies the further the war dragged on and politically we got warnings from Germany not to continue these "diplomat" flights. There are those who insist that the two DC-3's which were shot down were warnings to the Swedish Government, although Luftwaffe always claimed both were mistakes...

Cheers
Stig

[Graham Boak]

Total war, indeed. I believe you will find that direct killing of civilians is against the various conventions, and that civil aircraft are covered therein. Hence the retention throughout the war of large prominent registrations and colourful trim - even if on a basically camouflaged aircraft!

There is a case in one of Christopher Shores' books of (Malta-based?) Beaufighters shooting down an Italian airliner carrying women and children.

[paul peters]

On the 1st of July 1943 PH-ALI a DC-3 of KLM was shot down by Ju-88's over the Gulf of Biscay. The 17 passengers and crew of 4 were killed.
pp