HE177 "Stolen" by the British

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thansk for the details Jaap, the term "captured by the Resistance in September 1944" is probably not right, the factories and the whole Toulouse area was liberated on between the 19 and the 21 August 1944 by the Resistance (or rather vacated by the Germans because of the landing in Southern France, even if the Resistance rose everywhere and killed/captured thousand of Germans in the area it was not the first cause of the German retreat).

But it is sure that Resistance members were the ones who found this AC and probably applied French colors to it. The integration of the ad-hoc units formed by Resistance members (former Armée de l'Air members) with captured AC into the official Armée de l'Air wasn't done until well into September.

Hello, I know this is an old thread, but just heard about this discussion. I have all the facts actually, about the "theft" of an He 177 from Toulouse France, including the log book entries from one of the escorting crews, as well as photos of them on the day of the event. 6 Sept 44 was the date, and it was Russ Bannock, and Robert Bruce who's log book entries I have. I recently met up with Russ at his home in Toronto, and he relayed the entire story to me.