Friendly fire WWII

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Still adding entries I found (usually while searching something else...)

On 31 May 1942 two OS2U-3 landplanes of VS-1D-11, based at NAS San Pedro, California, were on a routine morning ASW patrol over the ocean, when at 0550 hrs, eleven miles at sea, bearing 260 degrees from Point Vincente, California, they were attacked by six P-39 USAAF fighters. The OS2U-3 Buno 5364 flown by Lt H H Hirschy (pilot) and RM1c Milton E Cox (radioman), was shot up so badly that they were forced to make a crash landing at sea. Lt Hirschy first jettisoned his depth charges in an attempt to remain airborne and as a safety measure and then upon complete engine failure made a water landing. Successfully escaping from the sinking plane, they succeeded in partially inflating the bullet-pierced two-man life raft and with that and their life jackets they managed to stay afloat. After four hours in the water they were picked up by a merchant vessel, the SS Mercury.
The pther plane of the section, piloted by Ens C S Willard (pilot) and AOM3c Melvin Bird (radioman), succeeded in evading most of the enemy fire (six, it is written like that in the VS-36 official war history). On the second run of the P-39's, in which Lt Hirschy was shot down, Ens Willard received four bursts amidshups which caused minor damage, but was able to evade further fire by hugging the deck and returning to base. As he landed, two P-39s zzomed alongside but withheld their fire.

Source:
VS-46 War History (available online at https://www.fold3.com/image/302008068 and https://www.fold3.com/image/302008076)
Eleventh Naval District and Naval Operating Base, San Diego, California, War Diary, May 1942 (available online at https://www.fold3.com/image/268360344)

No idea who the P-39s were, I guess the OS2U were mistaken for Japanese floatplanes (some launched by submarines flew over the US West Coast in 1942).