Friendly Fire

[alanatabz]

Question, Was this commonplace, even though the aircraft would have been recognizable as Allied aircraft to an attaching Spitfire?

"the story came out soon after that several Hampden Bombers returning from a operation over the Norwegian coast failed to give the correct identification signal for the day and our defence Spitfires promptly brought it down just south of Craigleith Island, one of the Hampden crew died as a result of this dreadful mistake"

[Chris Goss]

Very. Always has and continues almost to this day. Search blue on blue & look at the sticky at the top of this Board

[alanatabz]

Thanks Chris, I should have maybe worded it a bit clearer.

In the absence of a recognised code, was there a standing order to attack aircraft that didn't comply (i.e.if an aircraft was used by the Luftwaffe, this was a way of detecting if the crew flying the allied aircraft were friend or foe.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Most of the time, friendly fire in the air was due to the attacking pilot not recognizing an Allied aircraft until too late (or not at all).

There are few cases, if any, of a pilot actually recognizing a friendly aircraft but attacking it because it did not fire the colors of the day.

There are still cases where people fired at a friendly aircraft knowing fully it was friendly, but that was defensive fire (that could still be lethal) after repeated attacks.

On the other hand, both sides reported many stories where captured aircraft were used by the other side to launch attacks. Most of these cases are bad identifications of attacking aircraft, or good identification but friendly aircraft attacking the wrong (friendly) target. Using captured aircraft in battle is both dangerous (both sides will fire on you) and difficult (for maintenance and training reasons). AFAIK only Finland did it on a relatively large scale... because they had no other choice. Most other air forces will use captured aircraft in the rear area or in clandestine operations to drop agents.

[Allan125]

Originally Posted by alanatabz

Question, Was this commonplace, even though the aircraft would have been recognizable as Allied aircraft to an attaching Spitfire?

"the story came out soon after that several Hampden Bombers returning from a operation over the Norwegian coast failed to give the correct identification signal for the day and our defence Spitfires promptly brought it down just south of Craigleith Island, one of the Hampden crew died as a result of this dreadful mistake"

This involved 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron Auxiliary Air Force, on 21 December 1939 they shot down two Hampden’s of 44 Squadron, who were returning from a raid on Sylt and had been due to land at Lossiemouth but, through an error of navigation, flew up the Forth Estuary instead of the Moray Firth. A combination of errors had led to the shooting down of these friendly aircraft, and loss of life. A flight of RAF 44 Squadron Handley-Page Hampden bombers were approaching the south coast of the Firth of Forth without properly identifying themselves as friendly, by lowering their undercarriage. Spitfires of 602 Squadron were hastily scrambled, taking-off crosswind.

The light was poor, and such was the time of heightened tension, that the Handley-Page Hampdens bore a remarkable resemblance to Dornier Do17 bombers. They both had the same basic layout of twin-engines, and twin-fins on the tailplane. The Hampdens fired flares to confirm their identity, but they were in the wrong sequence. The Spitfires engaged. Two of the Hampdens were shot down in the Forth before the Spitfires realised their mistake. Remarkably, only one Hampden crewmember lost his life.

The remaining Hampdens were escorted into Drem by the Spitfires, and landed safely. They stayed overnight, and the next morning after having taken off, turned and roared back over the airfield at full-throttle, bombing the 602 Squadron quarters with hundreds of toilet rolls! Such black humour shrouded much deeper feelings of despair and terror, necessarily swept aside as the real threat continued. An inquiry absolved 602's pilots of any responsibility in the accident - just one of many hundreds of "friendly-fire" tragedies to occur in all theatres of the war. A Court of Inquiry cleared the Squadron of blame for the incident.


Allan

[BrianC]

Hi Allan

All is recorded in my BLUE on BLUE book!

Cheers
Brian

[Allan125]

Originally Posted by BrianC

Hi Allan

All is recorded in my BLUE on BLUE book!

Cheers
Brian

No doubt - and here is some more for you

“Hampden Ops with 44 Squadron RAF" by W. J. Lewis DFC, W/C RCAF (retired).

On page 127 the author states.

"Late in December (1939), we were sent out with 49 Squadron from Scampton to search for the German navy up the coast of Norway. We found nothing. We were operating as a wing led by the Commanding Officer of 49 Squadron (also flying Hampdens). Coming back he led us right into the middle of a big thunderstorm. Our squadron commander and his navigator decided to detour around the thunderstorm. When we reached the other side, 49 Squadron had disappeared. We found out later they had turned south and made a landfall in that direction. We went in through the Firth of Forth where we were met by three Hurricanes from 111 Squadron, who recognized our colours of the day. Waggling their wings, they turned away and flew off. They were followed almost immediately by 12 Spitfires of 602 City of Glasgow Auxiliary Squadron, who didn't recognize the colours--they waded in and shot down two of our Hampdens. Fortunately, ten of us escaped and landed at a fighter base. We sat in their officers' mess with the station commander standing in the middle, seeing that neither side got at the other.

cheers

Allan