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Allied and Soviet Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the Air Forces of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. |
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#1
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Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
Hi guys
I'm aware that two or three Lend-Lease Spitfires were victims of Soviet friendly fire, but were many Hurricanes, P-40s, P-39s and various US bomber types also mistakenly shot down or damaged? I'm sure that there is an informed article on the web that covered the use of Hurricanes by the Soviets, including some friendly fire incidents, but I can no longer find it. Any ideas? Cheers Brian |
#2
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Re: Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
This article makes reference to friendly fire against P-40s, including indentifying one specific example:
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/englis...p-40/index.htm I can't remember if any of the other articles make any more mentions. A |
#3
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Re: Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
Thanks Amrit
Wish I could find the Hurricane article! Cheers Brian |
#4
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Re: Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
Possibly last Lend-Lease friendly fire in Europe took place on 9 May 1945 over Prague, Czechoslovakia.
By the end of WW2 when Eastern and Western fronts were getting closer to each other, dogfights of Soviet and Allied aircraft were taking place – over Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia and also over Czechoslovakia. Several aircraft on both sides were shot down by accident. There were various causes – most often over zealous pilots combined with low awareness of aircraft types used by the Allies, and also the similarity of Allied and enemy plane silhouettes. An incident of this kind occurred near Prague-Ruzyně airfield in the afternoon of 9 May 1945 i.e. after the de iure end of the war. The case is in fact unknown, and if not for witness memories that started the unravelling of this mystery, it would be totally forgotten by now. A thorough research in both American and Russian archives has shown that this incident had been preceded the day before by another shooting down of an American aircraft from the same unit over Saxony in Germany. American Lockheed F-5 photo-recco planes (unarmed version of the famous Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane) of the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron/10th Photographic Group, belonging to the 9th U.S. Air Force were then operating from Y-10 airfield in Wiesbaden, Germany. On 8 May 1945, the unit was on a Prisoner-of-War Camp Pin-Pointing Mission in Dresden airspace, i.e. in the area recently seized by Soviet troops. Several Soviet Yak fighters of the 106th Guards Fighter Air Regiment from Cottbus airfield attacked Captain Malcolm L. Nash. Second Lieutenant Lazuta wrongly took Nash´s F-5E for a German Focke Wulf Fw 189 (twin-fuselage plane like F-5), and shot it down in Reichenbach area, approx. 40 kilometres West of Dresden. Captain Nash made a belly landing in the field. Though himself escaping serious injury his F-5E was totally demolished. On the next day, 9 May 1945 afternoon, the 39th Photo-Recco Squadron sent six F-5s to search for the missing Capt. Nash. Two of the F-5s piloted by 1/Lt Thomas P. Petrus and 2/Lt. Thomas Jackson, flew as far as Prague. By coincidence, this happened when six Soviet American built Bell P-39 Airacobras patrolled the area. They were part of the 100th Guards Fighter Air Regiment (part of the renowned 9th Guards Fighter Air Division led by famous ace, Colonel Alexander I. Pokryschkin), operating from Neuhausen airfi eld (10km South-East of Cottbus). Soviet fi ghters covered Soviet tanks advancing to Prague, and one of them, Major Vasilyi A. Pschenitchnikov, took the American twin-fuselage F-5 for a German Fw 189. In three machine-gun rounds, he shot down the plane that went down in flames on the Northwestern part of Prague, nearby the Ruzyně airfield. While 1/Lt Petrus, suffering heavy burns, saved his life on parachute, Maj. Pschenitchnikov on his return added to his score the kill of „Fw 189“, his thirteenth and the last WW2 kill. The sad irony of all this remains: the last „German“ aircraft shot down over Prague was in fact an Allied one. Even more paradoxical is the fact that the last American plane shot down in European Theatre was not only shot by an Allied pilot but also by an U.S. made aircraft, one of the many supplied by Americans to Soviets under the Lend-Lease Act. English summary from the article: Jiri Rajlich: Zapomenutý incident nad Ruzyní 9. května 1945. Historie a vojenstvi, No 3/2008, pp. 24-34. |
#5
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Re: Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
Many thanks indeed, Jiri.
It's surprising what is still coming to light. Your time and effort is much appreciated. Cheers Brian |
#6
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Re: Lend-Lease friendly fire incidents?
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