14th FG P-38 lost on 15 june 1943

[Gianandrea Bussi]

May anyone give me some informations about the fate of the P-38 of the 48th FS, 14th FG lost on that day (MACR 535)?
Did anyone saw the aircraft crashing? Was 2nd Leutnant F.W. Browne the pilot? Which was his ultimate fate?
Thank you

[Alex Smart]

Hi Gianandrea,

2Lt. F.W.Browne date of death is recorded as 15th June 1943.

Ref:ABMC

There were raids on Milo,Sciacca, Castelvetrano and Boccadifalco, Sicily as well as a raid on an airfield at Bo Rizzo and radio stations near Marsala.
PR recces were flown over the Italian mainland, Scicily and Sardinia.
This was from ref: Combat Chronology of the USAAF.

Hope this helps.

Alex

ps
P38's serial number was 43-2466

[kaki3152]

Gianandrea,
There were two P-38Gs lost on June ,15,1943 by the 14th FG.
The serial number of the other one was 43-2465 (one digit different!)
Are you still looking for the identity of the Italian captured P-38?

Carlos

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Alex and Carlos,
thank you for your answers.
Yes, I'm trying to collect some additional informations in order to identify
the P-38 landed at Capoterra on 12 june 1943.
Does anyone know anything more from american side about that episode?
The pilot became a POW and the aircraft - as each historian of Regia Aeronautica knows- was used shortly by R.A.

Thank you in advance.

PS: the aircraft had Squadron code painted on the tail boom but it had been covered by darker paint by the italians. From a picture the code could be LM or UN (respect. 71st and 94th FS) but it's not sure because the paint has already covered it when the picture was taken. However, the documents contained in the microfilms of the AFHRA records of these two units (and of the other units of the 1st and 14th FG) don't mention this episode at all.

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

From a book I had at Xmas.

Lockheed P38 Lightning in Italian Service, by Marco Mattoli.

Has a couple of photos of this P38 in Italian markings and also has the date you mention, 12th June 1943 as the date the US pilot landed at Capoterra near Cagliari, Sardinia by mistake.

Good luck

Alex

[kaki3152]

Gianandrea,

I've wondered about the identity of this P-38 ever since buying "Stranger in A Strange Land" in 1989!
Perhaps the other P-38G lost on June 15,1943,sn 43-2465, is the correct airplane? Another possible way is to find a listing of USAAF personnel taken POW during this time and doing a process of elimination.
Too bad the 14th FG has never published a Group history.
Someone had some speculation that the plane was flown by a ferry squadron but no information has surfaced.

Carlos

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Alex and Carlos, thanks for your attention.

I already know the Mattioli book: those two pictures of the P-38 are well known in Italy.

I've checked the POW database at the www.armyairforces.com looking for POW reports amongst 11 and 21 june 1943 related to operations in Sardinia but I've found anything that seems to fit to this episode.

About the 15 june 1943 MACR: according to the MACR database of the same website, 432465 was a P-38 of the 4th FG.
On that day 14th FG lost two P-38 in Sicily: one pilot was Browne, the other one was taken prisonner by italians but then he came back to his unit.
I've read it some years ago in microfilm A0741 from AFHRA.

Best regards

Gianandrea

[Alex Smart]

Hi Gianandrea,

Perhaps someone can confirm, but I think that the 4FG loss will only relate to a pilot from the 4th , not the aircraft that may have been from another Unit.

Alex

[kaki3152]

The 4th FG is a misprint. It has to be the 14th FG since the 4th FG did not fly P-38s. The 12th AF listing in y MACR database also clearly identifies the 14th FG.

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Thank you Carlos.
So, that P38 was the second one lost that day by 48th FS in Sicily: as I read in the AFHRA microfilm, the pilot was seized by italians but then it came back to his unit (after the italian surrender in Sicily?). But in the POW database I've not found a POW report of 14th FG personnel on 15 june 1943: probably that was due to the short time he was POW?

Gianandrea