Friendly fire WWII

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Brian

Hi guys

One of my earlier requests concerned a USAAF 'light' aircraft that crashed at Le Mans having been hit by friendly fire on 22/8/44, with two or three deaths.

Could this in fact have been UC-61 43-14844 of the 27thFG that crashed on 23/8/44? I believe MACR 8340 covers this incident but I do not have any of these reports.

Cheers
Brian

Don't know about that one, but flying in a small, slow-moving plane over the front lines took a lot of courage. And there were dangers other than roving fighters and antiaircraft batteries. U.S. Army forward observers flew in light aircraft and often in close proximity of friendly artillery barrages. The trajectories of field guns varied widely and saturated the entire airspace covered by artillery spotters, so there was no alternative but to accept the risk. The expanded use of radar sensitive proximity fuses by artillery units further increased the hazards to low flying aircraft...

July 1943
During the fighting in Sicily, a US Army L-4 Cub was shot down by an 155mm ‘Long Tom’ artillery shell that hit the aircraft while in flight; the only round fired by the gun that day. See p.73, Wakefield, Ken and Wesley Kyle. The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945 (Stillwater, MN: Specialty Press, 1990).

June 1944
U.S. Army L-4 Cub was shot down by an 81mm mortar shell that inadvertantly struck the aircraft while in flight near the Normandy beaches. Crewed by Lts. McNage and Wood from the 87th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. In July 1944, two more observation aircraft were lost under similar circumstances. See p.71, Wakefield, Ken and Wesley Kyle. The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945 (Stillwater, MN: Specialty Press, 1990).

November 1944
U.S. Army L-4 Cub from the 202nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion was shot down by a shell (fired by own unit) that hit the aircraft while in flight near Baccarat. Lt. Allan Hathaway was killed. See p.97, Wakefield, Ken and Wesley Kyle. The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945 (Stillwater, MN: Specialty Press, 1990).

March 1945
US Army artillery observers Lts. Bernhardt and Barrow of the 87th Infantry Division were killed when their L-4 Piper Cub was hit by an outbound artillery shell near Limburg. Also, S/Sgt. Thomas K. Turner and Lt. Leroy C. Stevens of 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion were forced down when their L-4 was hit by an artillery round near Stolberg. See p.136, Wakefield, Ken and Wesley Kyle. The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945 (Stillwater, MN: Specialty Press, 1990).

1945 (precise date unknown)
L-4 Piper Cub flown by Capt. Francis P. Farrel (Air Officer 3rd Armored Division Artillery) was shot down and killed by American AA fire over Stolberg, Germany. See p.97, Division Committee. Spearhead in the West, 1941-45: The Third Armored Division (Frankfurt am Main-Schwanheim: F.J. Henrich, 1945).

Pictured below is Lt. General George S. Patton sitting in the backseat of an L-5, similar to the aircraft he was aboard when attacked by an RAF Spitfire in April 1945. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Attachment 286