Aircraft brought down by "Neutral" countries.

If you look to the right you can see the nose of the P-39 .

 

Were any efforts made to retrieve the aircraft afterwards?

 

No, these and other interned aircraft were enrolled in the Portuguese Arma da Aeronáutica, duly paid for (spares didn't drop from the sky) and used throughout the 50s at least, along with "normally" purchased Spitfires, Hurricanes, Blenheims, Ansons, Martlets and what not. We had Ju52 and/or their French derivatives flying in the 70s

Postwar P-47swere purchased (along with loads of surplus C-47, C-54, etc)

Also during the late 60s a few A-26 were purchased "under the counter" for the Africa wars, but we had trouble with the CIA :lol:

 

Who is "We"? you have rock in your pocket? LOL. Well it was good they were paid for . It did seem an easy way to build up the airforce.

 

If you added all the aircraft that were interned in the "Neutral" countries to their airforces that would have been a huge boost to thier defences LOL.

 

Very interesting thread guys!! Bravo!!

 

Thanks. There seems to be quite a few aspects of the war that are very little know.

 

As for the 19 Portuguese P-39s, this weekend I glanced through a local book that stated that 16 had a 20mm cannon, the other 3 being 37mm. Great for commonality!

One of them had landed in Spain after all, and was passed on to Portugal very much under the counter due to the legal shenanigans

I'll try and borrow the book for the full story.

 

I can see perhaps with the 20mm being easier to obtain. But the 37mm would be a tad bit harder to get.

 

This site has some information on the Portuguese A-26's and information on other operators and some pictures.

Operational history II - Operators

 

Good site. But the A-26s was purchased by the Portuguese government not brought down by them LOL .

 

Anyway, they're outside the WW2 scope.

 

On 8 Nov 1941 a Finnish DH89 "Lappi" was damagedby 3 BF-109s lead by Oberst Schumacher.The "Lappi" crash landed Two passengers were wounded (doctor and radio man). The plane was repaired.

 

Anyone know of any of the incidents of Swedish aircraft shooting down Allied and Axis aircraft?

 

"The Swiss Airforce states it like following (roughly translated from German). The Swiss Airforce entry on German wikipedia pretty much copies this.

"Only after German mobilization in the West after the 10th of May 1940 border violations by German aircraft increased. The aggressive spirit of the Swiss crews, which especially during the beginning of June fulfilled their defense task, became a symbol of the will to resist. The airforce shot down multiple aircraft of Göring's Luftwaffe. During the same time, they also suffered three KIA however. On June 20th (until the end of October 1943 [, when Germany occupied Italy]), General Guisan outlawed all air combat over Swiss territory for political reasons. There was another deadly shooting of a Swiss aircraft in September 1944, this time by US aircraft. The protection of neutrality during this time [June 1940 to October 1943] was transferred to the air defence forces. [...] The Swiss Military, during WW2, counted 6501 border violations by aircraft, 198 foreign aircraft landed [were forced down] on Swiss territory, 56 were shot down."

Regarding interaction with Allied aircraft, it seems that Swiss aircraft had orders to force down any bombers etc that violated Swiss borders. The above link contains e.g. a picture of a B-24 Liberator being escorted to land on a Swiss airfield. There were also some accidental bombardments of Swiss cities (e.g. Schaffhausen) along the Swiss-German border by Allied aircraft.
During the early time (1940), Swiss airdefence occasionally "exploited" opportunities, and e.g. shot down German aircraft that were earlier damaged in dogfights with French forces."

Swiss combat pilots - Defence Talk Forum

 

Hi Guys - During WWII, or The Emergency to give it its offiical Irish title, about 163 Allied or Axis planes force landed in Ireland. It is not believed Irish Air Corps shot down any planes but dozens of barrage ballons drifting over Ireland were shot down. The Air Corps was also able to acquire 3 Hurricanes, a Hudson and a Fairey Battle which were put into service. German aircrew and sailors were interned for the duration. There is also a German war cemetary in the hills above Dublin. Allied personel were interned but allowed out (of the Curragh camp?) on leave. Most headed straight back over the border to Northern Ireland.

 

Ooooooh, I'm sure you can do better than that, or are you just tantalysing us?

163 planes force landed in Ireland? Details sir, details, where are they?

 

I found this but I don't know how accurate it is. I never even thought of Ireland being neutral but just a country that stayed out of the war.

Aircraft Landings Ireland 1939 - 1946

Watchdog, don't let ZA intimidate you on your first post. Just keep posting and ignore him the best you can.

 

During the "Battle of Berlin" in the winter of '34/44, RAF Bomber Command sometimes routed its force deliberately over the southern edge of Sweden.

After one such incursion, the Swedish government made a formal complaint. IIRC, returning crews reported that the anti-aircraft fire was well below their operating height.

One pilot recounted that, on one occasion, the Swedes even lowered their searchlights and pointed them in the direction that the preceding bombers had taken.