Friendly fire WWII

[SMF144]

Brian,

I just came across this incident that occurred on August 26, 1943. Nos. 403 and 421 Squadrons RCAF were taking part in Operation STARKEY, NO.5, Part I when the following was observed.



F/O J.F. LAMBERT and F/O H.J. DOWDING of 403 had excellent bursts at extremely close range, but cloud obstructed accurate view of results. 10 minutes later, 421 in the CAEN area, dived on an ME.109 and a Fw.190, which were flying in line astern. The Fw.190 obviously confused, opened fire, the Me.109 diving steeply in flames right into the ground. This E/A is claimed destroyed by 421. WING landed at 1940 hrs.

Incidently, I have supplied Hugh Haliday with several examples in which he has passed on to you several months back.

All the best,

Stephen

[Jon]

I once was friends with an old Airgunner in Gloucester, England.
He was shot down only the once in the war, in a Wellington at night onthe way home from a raid. They had gone off course , flew over a Royal Navy ship that fired four shots at them.....Three hit ! and Mr Bircher had no choice but to leave his Wellington at 10,000 feet.
He always said it was the best shooting of the war ???

[Jon]

I cant remember the details but i am sure another member will !
A USAF Mosquito with a high ranking officer on board flew in a raid to observe the bombing over Europe.
I think as the formation was attacked by Luftwaffe fighters they flew into the formation for protection and....in a Twin engined aircraft often not seen by US gunners was shot down within seconds. I think the US officer and his pilot survived.

[mhuxt]

4 April 1945, 25 Group. April 4: Wesendorf airfield - The airfield was bombed with good results.

Colonel Troy Crawford, 446th CO, was flying in an RAF Mosquito as an observer. While trying to join with the group, 2 ME 262 fighter jets flew along side Colonel Crawford's plane. The RAF Mosquito, like a German ME 262, was a twin engine aircraft and, from a distance, they look a bit alike. When the crews saw what they thought were 3 ME 262's coming at them, they opened fire and did their job well, knocking the Mosquito out of the air. Colonel Crawford and his pilot parachuted to the ground and were taken prisoner. In just a week and a half, their POW camp would be liberated.

From:

http://www.446bg.com/index.html

MACR 13948

Cheers,

Mark

[Brian]

Hi guys

Thanks for the latest contributions, I really am grateful and will duly acknowledge all contributors in my forthcoming book by way of thanks. As I am still having problems responding, I reply to all herewith :

JUHA - yes thanks, I have picked up on past discussions but may well come back to you.

SMUDGER - I had overlooked Aaron's VC incident. Thanks for reminding me.

STEPHEN - similarly, I did not have record of the 421 Sqn incident. Thanks for this and also info provided via Hugh.

MARK & JON - I think the incidents are one and the same, in which case I do have details, although I understand the 357thFG shot two Mosquitos. Still investigating the second.

JON - I will research Mr Bircher's bale out to see if I can establish date and unit, unless you already know?

LAURENT - what can I say? Thanks a million. I have some recorded but certainly not all. I wasn't aware of the 17/5/40 Blenheim losses to French fighters. I've had a look at 82 Squadron's ORB and note 11 Blenheims failed to return from that mission. I wonder which three were shot down by the French fighters? Do you know? I would dearly like any additional details related to ALL the incidents you record, including names of crews/pilots responsible etc. May be you would care to write to me with details at:

31 Raynham Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP32 6EA.

BOB COLLIS - we must be practically neighbours! Perhaps you would care to phone (01284-760271), and perhaps we could meet for a chat. I, too, have long maintained an interest in East Anglian airwar incidents.

Gentlemen! I thank you all for your help - please keep it coming!

Brian

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by mhuxt

4 April 1945, 25 Group. April 4: Wesendorf airfield - The airfield was bombed with good results.

Colonel Troy Crawford, 446th CO, was flying in an RAF Mosquito as an observer. While trying to join with the group, 2 ME 262 fighter jets flew along side Colonel Crawford's plane. The RAF Mosquito, like a German ME 262, was a twin engine aircraft and, from a distance, they look a bit alike. When the crews saw what they thought were 3 ME 262's coming at them, they opened fire and did their job well, knocking the Mosquito out of the air. Colonel Crawford and his pilot parachuted to the ground and were taken prisoner. In just a week and a half, their POW camp would be liberated.

From:

http://www.446bg.com/index.html

MACR 13948

Cheers,

Mark

The plane was a USAAF Mosquito that belonged to the 25th Bomb Group. This unit lost at least four Mosquitoes shot down in error during the war. I could provide the dates, serial numbers and other details if Brian doesn't have them.

[Troy White]

There were so many incidents, I am sure you are going to have fun compiling them all. Here are a few more for you:

10 Sept 43 Lt. Pryblo 307th FS 31st FG-- Own Flak
22 May 44 Nick "Cowboy" Megura 334th FS-- 4th FG Shot down by P-38
6 June 44 Uffz. Winter 6./JG 26-- Own Flak
25 December Lt. Bouchier-- Own Flak
25 December Capt. Don Emmerson 336 FS 4th FG-- Own Flak
1 Jan 45 An RAF Typhoon or Tempest was shot down and the pilot KIA while in the landing pattern by a pilot from the 328th FS 352nd FG at Y-29 in Belgium.
1 Jan 45 out of about 300 aircraft lost by the Luftwaffe during Operation Bodenplatte about 100 were shot down by their own flak.

I also recall an incident where USAAF P-38s shot down a few Soviet fighters I believe in the Balkans near the end of the war.

And of course there was St. Lo...

That is just what I found in my notes and the very few books in my library.

I look forward to seeing how you present all of this stuff. I am sure some people will think this is a touchy subject but there are so many ways to get killed during a war. I used to live in Florida and during WWII there was an average of 1.25 military planes a day that crashed between Pearl Harbour and V-J Day and nobody was was shooting at them.

Cheers--

Troy

[George Hopp]

In the August 1944 issue of "Recognition Journal" the following was mentioned. Perhaps someone knows about the a/c and boats involved: "Some months ago in the Pacific, a B-25 bomber on patrol spotted two torpedo boats below him. Not recognizing them as U.S. Navy PT's he came down on them, strafing with his eight .50-caliber machine guns. They, in turn, opened up on him. While the first PT was still sinking, a patrolling Navy fighter happened along, swung in on the bomber and shot it down. The bomber pilot never lived to make explanations, nor did all the PT men."

No. 1 Sqdn (RCAF) tallied its first victories on 24 Aug 40 by shooting down one Ju 88 and claiming another Ju 88 as a probable. Unfortunately, these a/c were Blenheim IFs of No. 235 (Fighter) Sqdn of the RAF.

[Troy White]

Last night while I was looking for something completely different I stumbled upon the following “friendly” fire information. Funny how that works.

On 18 March 1945 the 352nd FG, 353rd FG, 357th FG & 359th FG all had contact with Soviet fighters in the Berlin area.

A P-51 from the 353rd and one from the 352nd crash landed behind Soviet lines as a result of engagements with the Soviets.

Several flights of 352nd FG mixed it up with Yak-9s but combat was broken off when proper recognition was established. However, Lt. Albert Peterson of the 487th FS got into a turning contest with four Yaks and got himself shot down. Peterson eventually made his way back to his base on 1 May 1945. I couldn’t find anything more on the 353rd FG or the 357th FG.

But the big story was what happened with the 359th FG over the airfields at Zackerick and Joachimsthal. Mustangs of the 368th FS and 369th FS shot down a total of nine and damaged one of the Russians in a good sized fracas with no losses. They also destroyed two more on the ground as they were taxiing to take off. The 359th initially mistook the La-5s for Fw 190s and the Yak-9s for Bf 109s. The Americans broke off combat when they figured out their mistake but in some cases the Soviets wanted to keep fighting so the Americans obliged and shot them down. The stats show that it was not much of a contest.

High scorers that day were Capt. Ralph Cox who shot down three La-5s and Maj. Niven Cranfill who flamed two Yak-9s. Both became aces with those victories.

Here are confirmed victories for the 359th FG on 18 March 1945:

Cranfill, 368th FS: 2 Yak-9s
Cox 368th FS: 3 La-5s
Burtner, 368th FS: 1 Yak-9
Burtner, 368th FS: 2 Yak-9s (ground)
McCormack, 368th FS: 1 Yak-9
Gaines, 368th FS: 1 Yak-9
McIntosh, 368th FS: 1 Yak-9
Berndt, 368th FS: 1 Yak-9 (damaged)

After the incident Lt. McIntosh was court marshaled and sent back to the USA because his was the only gun camera film evidence of the incident that survived.

On the Russian side Joseph Stalin had the surviving Russian pilots executed and expected the USA to do the same with the 359th pilots which of course never happened.
Cheers--

Troy

[Troy White]

Correction to my previous posting:

All of the 359th FG pilots were from the 369th FS except for Capt. Cranfill who was from the 368th FS.

Troy