Friendly fire WWII

[Six Nifty .50s]

Brian, can you answer the following?

15 Feb 42 - RAF Liberator AM918 shot down off Plymouth. Who was the attacker?

16 Dec 42 - RAF Marauder FK367 shot down by a Spitfire off Benghazi. Who was the attacker?

23 Dec 42 - RAF Beaufighter carrying a prototype radar was shot down by a Spitfire, with another Beaufighter damaged in the same action. Do you know serials, names of crews, and attacking squadron?

30 Dec 43 - RAF Baltimore damaged by friendly fire off Egypt. Who was the attacker?

27 May 44 - RAF Spitfire MJ401 attacked by a Spitfire, crashed into Lake Bracciano. Who was the attacker?

28 July 44 - Serial and crew of RAF Baltimore shot down by 600 Squadron Beaufighter?

28 Sep 44 - RAF Hurricane LF633 shot down by an Allied fighter off Peterhead. Who was the attacker?

24 Mar 45 - RAF Typhoon MN917 crash-landed after dogfight with Allied fighters. The other squadron?

[Brian]

Hi Six Nifty

The results of my research reveal the following:

15/2/42: F/Sgt Stanislaw Brzeski (AD308/JH-T) and Sgt Jan Malinowski (AR279/JH-R) of 317 squadron shot down AM918.

16/12/42: Flt Lt Robert Seed of 249 Squadron shot down FK367 (see '249 at Malta' for the full story)

23/12/42: Beaufighter V8387 of TFU (Telecommunications Flying Unit) crewed by S/L HB Mould and F/Lt AE Downing) shot down by Sgt Norman Gerrard RCAF (EP398/VL-E) of 167 Squadron. Second Beaufighter was X7583.

30/12/43: Baltimore FA230 (ex-41-27812) still to be researched.

27/5/44: Spitfire MJ401 still to be reserached

28/7/44: SAAF Baltimore of 13SAAF Squadron (still to be researched) damaged by F/Sgt Waitman 600 Squadron Beaufighter.

28/9/44: F/Lt J. Strusinski (LF633) of 309 Squadron shot down by another member of his squadron - still to be researched.

24/3/45: Typhoon MN917 flown by W/O Keith Bodden - attacker yet to be established - believed USAAF fighter. Incidentally, it seems that Bodden had shot down a 333 Squadron Mosquito in error on 11/6/44 when serving with 118 Squadron.

That's all I can do at the moment. Hope you'll still buy the book!! Only joking, there will be a complimentary coming your way in due course. Cheers

Brian

[Brian]

Thanks Ed - most interesting.

Cheers
Brian

[Franek Grabowski]

28/9/44: F/Lt J. Strusinski (LF633) of 309 Squadron shot down by another member of his squadron - still to be researched.

This was an accident. Two pilots were sent for a mock up dog fight with photo guns but also live ammunition. At one moment one of them pressed the tit to take photos but caused cannons to fire (both were operated by one trigger). He was just too close and too well aiming, and four Hispanos were a lethal weapon. Apparently, the pilot, whose name remains not confirmed, returned in deep shock, realising he killed his best friend.
PS Brian, are you alive?

[John Vasco]

Oblt. Otto Hintze, Staka of 4./JG 186, shot down by his own wingman on 1/6/1940.

[SteveB]

Brian

This thread is very interesting but for this "bear of little brain" it is becoming quite confusing now. I don't think you have had responses on the following. Not the complete story I am afraid.

28/10/44 Mustang I AM153/T was with 430(RCAF) Sqdn based at B.78 Eindhoven. According to Shores and Thomas in 2TAF V2 the a/c was flown by F/Lt J L McMahon who was attacked by a Spitfire at 1650 apparently the pilot bailed out “near B.78”. No details on attacking a/c.

17/1/45: This incident involves Mustang II from 268Sqdn based at B.77 Gilze-Rijen although two a/c were involved only one was lost. The following info is derived from research by Colin Ford the 268Sqdn historian:

F/O A T ‘Arthur’ Lord in FR918/U and F/L K O ‘Ken’ Jenkins in FR930/W took off at 1324 hrs to conduct a Tac/R covering the area Arnhem – Borculo – Bocholt – Kranenburg. The sortie proceeded without incident until they were near Bocholt at reference E8780 (about one and a half miles west of Doesburg) when they were ‘bounced’ by a flight of Spitfires. Initially the two pilots were relieved at seeing that their ‘attackers’ were friendly Spitfires from 83 Group, but this quickly turned to disbelief and shock as the Spitfires opened fire at close range. The Mustang of Jenkins was seen to go down over enemy territory, obviously badly damaged. Lord escaped the attentions of the Spitfires, and returned to base. Jenkins was initially posted as missing but confirmation was soon received that he had been killed either as the result of wounds received in the attack by the Spitfires or in the crash of his Mustang behind enemy lines. F/Lt K O Jenkins is buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetary. No details on attacking a/c.

14/2/45 Mustang III KH542 64 Sqn shot down by friendly fire. Does your info allow for the possibility of "ground fire"? This incident took place during an escort to bombers attacking rail targets at Bielefeld and Altenbecken. It is not clear but it appears that on the outward leg West of Enschede F/Lt G A ‘Richie’ Richards had engine trouble in KH542 and turned back with P/Off A O Lloyd as escort. Richards steadily lost height down to 600ft when Lloyd left him to investigate two Spitfires that appeared to be attempting to bounce them. Lloyd lost Richards as a result but made contact with him by radio Richards reported that he was still at 600ft with an IAS of 150mph. It is thought that they were over friendly territory by this time. Lloyd landed at Antwerp but nothing further was heard from Richards. The mission was airborne at 0930 so it would seem likely that this incident occurred fairly soon into the mission. Richards does not seem to appear on the CWGC. No details on attacking a/c.

Steve

[Nikita Egorov]

Dear Brian,

Are you interested only in friendly fire incidents in the Allied air forces, or also in Soviet VVS? It seems to me that any book aiming to cover all period of WWII in terms of friend or foe misidentification will be incomplete without records from Eastern front. There are lots of such cases from the Soviet side. If you are interested, please contact me off-board.

Best regards,
Nikita
nicknn@rambler.ru

[Franek Grabowski]

Nikita
I have sens some to Brian covering 1941 - we did not went further - so definetelly he would be interested.
Nayway, a question to you - I have an incident involving Kaberov but I recall it being suspect. Could you explain?

[Nikita Egorov]

Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski

Nikita
I have sens some to Brian covering 1941 - we did not went further - so definetelly he would be interested.
Nayway, a question to you - I have an incident involving Kaberov but I recall it being suspect. Could you explain?

Franek,

Unfortunatelly, I'am not keen on Navy fighters, so I can not prove or reject regarding incident with Kaberov. You better adress Andrey Dikov, who is specialist on this.

[Brian]

Thanks John (nice to hear from you again, neighbour!) and Steve - much appreciated. E-mail on the way, Nikita. Thanks.

Cheers
Brian