Friendly fire WWII

[Darius]

Originally Posted by Six Nifty .50s

August 1944
RAF heavy bombers hit Allied troops in error during Operation TRACTABLE causing about 490 casualties including 112 dead. The bombings also wiped out 265 Allied vehicles, 30 field guns and two tanks. In retaliation, British anti-aircraft guns opened fire on the RAF bombers. See p.122, Bickers, Richard Townshend. Air War Normandy (London: Leo Cooper, 1994).

Here´s an article on this accident in CMH:
Report on the Bombing of Our Own Troopsduring Operation “Tractable” 14 August 1944 by Arthur T. Harris:
https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcont...38&context=cmh

Regards

Darius

On April 26, 1945, P-61B-10-NO, AAF SN 42-39559, was shot down by friendly fire at approximately 2130. It was from the 417th NFS, flying out of Giebelstadt, Germany, flying a night intruder mission in defense of the Ulm-Dillingen Bridgehead. The location of the crash site was recorded as "Vicinity Altishein, Germany T 30821"

The pilot was 2LT Thomas E. Cartmell USAAF (my uncle), flying his first combat mission. IDPF records suggest a catastrophic crash and burn. The radar operator was 2LT Hal Anderson, who bailed out before the crash but because of the low altitude, his parachute did not fully deploy and he was killed on impact. Tom is buried at the AMC in St. Avold, France, and Hal was buried in the U.S.

More details of the loss, plus transcribed letters of Lieutenant Cartmell during his training and wartime service can be found at https://brooksidepress.org/cartmell/

Mike Hughey

[Darius]

Maybe we had these incidents here earlier:

KTB Skl, 01.01.1945

Vormittags eine Ju 88 und 4 eigene Jäger durch Marineflak an der holländischen Küste irrtümlich abgeschossen. Untersuchung eingeleitet.

https://sites.google.com/site/wo2vpr...-01-01-ju88g-6
The Jäger ware obviously Fw-190, context of these incidents was operation „Bodenplatte“.


Regards

Darius

[Leendert]

No idea if seen yet: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...claude-b-allen

He was with 68th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division, in an L-4 Cub most likely.

Regards,
Leendert

[RSwank]

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3255...friendly-fire/

[BrianC]

Hi guys

Thanks Leendert and Rolland - most interesting. And belated thanks to Darius and Mike.

Take care, stay safe
Brian

[Leendert]

This was Mosquito HK289 of RAF No. 68 Squadron with, interestingly, two US Navy aviators.

See https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/5...-newkirk-aiken and https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/15768

Did not find "Aiken" and "HK289" using search in the Friendly Fire section, so assume not listed yet?

Regards,
Leendert

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Four American civilians killed and five wounded by US bombs accidentaly released near Eglin bombiong range in Florida on 11 August 1944:
https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/2...-marvin-cosson

I've searched the thread but did not find "The Battle of Barking Creek" in which RAF pilots hosed RAF pilots early on, days after start of the war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barking_Creek

[Darius]

Hi,


from NARA, T312-1362, AOK Narwa:
15.02.1944, Tagesmeldung 227.Inf.Div.:

[...] 14.30 Uhr eigener Stukaangriff auf Einbruchsraum Vepsküla. 2 Flugzeuge trafen die eigene HKL.[...]

HKL = Hauptkampflinie.

Regards

Darius