Luftwaffe Loss ...a P38 Lightning

[shooshoobaby]

Alex - Been reading comments on the P - 38 pictured in Italy.
In the book " On Special Missions , LW Research and Special Missions Squadrons." by Smith , Creek , Petrick- there is a color photo of P - 38
T9 XB taken at Rechlin along with photos of other Allied A/C 9-19- 43.
The photo caption says " most likely from 14th AF, landed on German AF.
Flown to Berlin by FW. Heinz Girnth JG 53
Note - photo of Mosquito at Rechlin shows code T9 XB.
Many photos Of the F5E during LW service and at Schwangau AF, 1945 as stated earlier.
cheers

[brewerjerry]

Hi Alex,
your post gave me the chance to turn out an old book,
strangers in a strange land has a photo of T9+XB, with the comment

' the lightning was later used in an airshow put on at rechlin during late 1943 '

also of interest maybe ? but O/T,

' a F4U-1 corsair was on luftwaffe strength reports for august & september 1944 '

Cheers
Jerry

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

Thank you Shoo ShooBabe and Jerry,

Had not looked at "Strangers" text on this for a while. just goes to show that cannot always rely on memory. Its the text to the colour photo on page 44. Thanks Jerry.

Shoo', the book you mention is one that I do not have sorry to say.
14th Air Force (India/China/Burma) ?

Thanks again

Alex

[Alex Smart]

FW. Heinz Girnth JG 53

'Shoo,

What do you have on this pilot if anything ?

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Further reading of Marco Mattioli's book on the P38 in Italian Service.

After the Germans took over Guidonia air base on the 10th September 1943

"So the Centro Sperimentale's Lightning ended its career with the Regia Aeronautica Italiana by passing to the German Luftwaffe, and met its end during the Allied bombing actions upon Guidonia on the 1st and 3rd of June 1944. The Italian Lightning , caught by surprise outside its hangar was totally destroyed and its wreckage were picked up and piled up on a corner south of the air base alongside the scrap heap of German aircraft and other prottypes previously destroyed."

Alex

[shooshoobaby]

Alex - I screwed up. Meant to say P - 38 was from 14th FIGHTER GROUP.
12th AF - sorry! No more info on Girnth. Hopefully a Luftwaffe historian can help.
This is an excellent book. photos and info on all captured A/C etc. plus other operations.
Another excellent book , "KG 200 , LW most secret unit" by Thomas and Ketley - Hikoki Publications
Cheers

[shooshoobaby]

Alex - I have found accounts of a P - 38 that landed in Sardinia at an Italian Air Base circa May 43 . The P - 38 was flown by pilot Guido Rossi and shot down several U.S. Bombers. He was shot down while attacking a B - 17 , ditched in the Med and rescued.
Mike

[Franz von Werra]

Hey guys, this is a heads-up...I came up with the Guido Rossi story while talking to a fellow Italian buff...And he nearly wanted to kill me! He explained that the only Lightning operated by Italy during WWII was flown by Tondi alone. Everything else is a very die-hard piece of misinformation which has been going on for YEARS!!

[veltro]

Exactly... please stop all this "Guido Rossi" nonsense! It is a heritage of the fantasy of Martin Caidin and has been doing damage for years...

There was only one P-38 in Regia Aeronautica ranks,which was captured on 12 June 1943 in Sardinia where a ferrying US pilot landed by mistake due to the malfunctioning of the compass.

Soon brought to the Italian Test Center of Guidonia (near Rome), this aircraft was flown *with Italian markings* by Col. Angelo Tondi (Chief test pilot of the center) in half a dozen scrambles against USAAF bombers attacking Rome and Central Italy's targets.

On 11 August 1943 Col. Tondi intercepted off the coast the B-17F s/n 42-30307 of 419th BS, 301st BG and shot down it at 12.00 hrs*.

This was the only successful interception completed by this aircraft and soon after the P-38 was grounded due to the bad quality of the Italian petrol that had corroded the fuel tanks.

* (cfr. Missing Air Crew Report n.490 available at the National Archives)


If you want to see at a few photographs of this Lightning (some totally unpublished), have a look here (the images are extracted from the forum of the 150° Gruppo Aut. Caccia Terrestre at http://www.150gct.it/modules.php?nam...&highlight=p38 and http://www.150gct.it/modules.php?nam...&highlight=p38):