Defecting Allied Pilots

All I can find is just this same statement on Google. 830 results LOL. I would like to read more. Anyone?

 

"One unusual thing happened. One night about ten P.M. an airplane entered our traffic pattern but did not contact the tower nor was he squawking the proper IFF (Identification friend or foe). The English were using our field to practice night landings, and all lights were on. The tower gave him landing instructions but was concerned. because several weeks ago an enemy fighter had entered the pattern and shot down three B-17's. Properly, the tower officer should have turned off all landing lights and sounded the alarm but by now the plane was almost at touchdown. The tower officer realized this plane was an Me-109, the top of the line of the Luftwaffe, and turned off all runway lighting. The intruder made a good landing using only the landing lights of the airplane and stopped in the middle of runway 27. The tower officer then sent a "follow me" jeep to lead him to a parking slot.
We had no prisoner of war facilities but the German pilot was questioned. He was a top notch pilot and a real nice guy. It seems that someone had turned him in as having a trace of Jewish blood. He heard of this, considered the options, and knew if he stayed in Germany he and all his family would be killed. With him gone, his Aryan family might survive. He did not hesitate, and within ten minutes he was departing Germany at maximum speed at two hundred foot altitude. As soon as he reached England he had to find an airport with landing lights on before he was picked up on radar or one of our night fighters realized he was there. He was fortunate we did not turn off the lights.
He bunked with us and ate with us for about three weeks. No one knew what to do with him. No one thought that a bomber group would capture any of the enemy . We bought him some clothes and other things he needed, and really enjoyed visiting with him. Yesterday we were bitter enemies. If we had met in the skies he would have tried to kill us, and we would tried to kill him."

WWII STORY: B-17 This is IT! Part IX​

 

One thought that poses an interesting Question. Who if any were allowed to fly again under the colors of the country they defected to. Or were they used as an intelligence source only?

 

Thanks for that Lou. Redcoat posted about this in post #13 .

 

No Prob . Just thought I would point it out LOL .

 

"Another Luftwaffe desertion occurred on 25 Jun 1941, a Ju 88 (B3 + BM, WNr 2428) of 4/KG 54 deserted to Russian, the crew were Uffz Hans Hermann (pilot), Uffz Hans Kratz(Navigator) Gefr Adolf Appel (gunner), and radio operator Wilhelm Schmid."

 

Sweden-05/10/1944 Macchi 202 MM9697 from a fighter school in Nurnberg the plane was sent back in February 1945 and was the only plane of Italian manufacture to land in Sweden as refugee, the pilot manged to avoid being turned to the Soviets afeter the war as he was Czech born and so could ask for asylum.

 

Does anyone know if any Asian pilots or aircrew defected or went over to the other side?

 

I was just looking back over this thread and found this. Too bad he got the boot LOL. I wonder how a spy is supposed to act or not act to not be recognised as one ? Wearing black trenchcoats and fedoras? LOLLOL

 

I didn't even bother reacting to his petty remark, especially a she's bene discharged for lloking for this kind of trouble with others too .I can translate this in French , German Dutch or Spanish, and the gentleman doesn't speak five languages like I do , or does he ? Same thing with the polish vets when he was asking for sources : mine are first hand from polish vets and I wasn't going to put my unpublished interviews on the internet to satisfy his ego , especially as he asked three times.... but here is something for other members . History of the Polish Armed Forces 1939-1949

 

Thanks Skipper for that . I had Adrian Wainer on "Ignore" when I realized that poster was the same person from the THC site. Tried to pull the crap over there too.

 

Fw 190A-8 WNr.171747

On August 30, 1944 a Luftwaffe ferry pilot deserted and landed a brand new FW-190A-8 near Birchington.

The pilot of this plane was Johannes Antonius Kuhn. He was born at November 15th, 1908 in Amsterdam. He was a former sgt. in the Military Airforce in the Netherlands. He was “forced” by his German wife to do something for the Fuehrer, so he went into the Luftwaffe in 1942.
He escaped in his Fw 190A-8 WNr.171747 on a delivery flight to Brussels-Melsbroek at August 30th, 1944.
Almost undamaged he landed his plane close to Monkton in Kent. Later the plane received serial AM230 and was shown to the public in Farnborough in 1945. After that the plane went to the Science Museum in London in 1946. Later it was scrapped.

Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough 1945 « War and Game

 

"Knowing the potential of enemy aircraft when involved in a conflict is a major asset as it was proven time and again during WWII. Both sides lost the advantage when pilots became disoriented and landed at enemy airfields or when they simply defected. On June 23, 1942, Oberleutnant Arnim Faber mistakenly landed his Focke-Wulf 190A-3 at RAF Pembrey, near Swansea in Wales. The aircraft was delivered on July 13 to the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford, where it was flown in trials against the new Spitfire Mk.IX, giving the RAF concrete ideas on the best way to fight the Fw 190A with their new fighter, which redressed the balance of power. During WWII both the Allies and the Axis received such “presents” from defecting pilots, crashed aircraft, captured aircraft and so on."

Black Ops: American pilots flying Russian aircraft during the Cold War

 

Seems that perhaps some of these "defections" may have just been wayward pilots who may have just taken advantage of the mistake LOL.

 

"British knowledge of German airborne interception radar was greatly
enhanced when, literally out of the blue, a Lichtenstein-equipped Ju 88R-1
D5+EV, landed at the RAF station at Dyce, Aberdeen. The pilot was
Oberleutnant Heinrich Schmitt, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and the
Battle of Britain, the radar operator Oberfeldwebel Paul Rosenberger, and
the
flight mechanic Oberfeldwebel Erich Kantwill, and they had planned their
flight to the British Isles and their defection very carefully. Members of
10./NJG 3 stationed at Grove in Denmark, they had been temporarily
detached to the airfield at Kristiansund on the southern coast
of Norway in response to
a requirement voiced by Hitler that the nightly RAF courier flight between
Stockholm and London should be intercepted and shot down. At about 15:30
hrs. on 9 May 1943 the Ju 88 took off, ostensibly for a
routine airtest, and shortly afterwards the radio operator
, in accordance with their plan, transmitted
an SOS message to the effect that there was an engine
on fire and they were ditching in the sea. Air-sea rescue machines
sent off in response to the distress
call found floating rubber dinghies, but understandably
no sigh of the aircraft itself."

From: The Other Battle Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command
By: Peter Hinchliffe