Friendly Air to Air Kills. Blue on Blue incidents

In the Pacific Theatre Lt Col Jerry Johnson of the 49th FG was an ACE with 25 kills. On his P-38 were the flags for 24 Japanese and 1 Australian kills. He had accidently shot down an RAAF Wirraway by mistake. Seems strange to have an Allied kill marking on his plane. IF you happen to see a copy of "Aircraft of the Aces,Legends of the Skies" published by Osprey on page 110 you will see a photo of LT Col Johnson posing with some fellow pilots in front of his P-38 with the Australian flag kill marking


"Remarks:
22 Victories scored, 11 in each of two tours, with the 49th FG. Johnson included an Australian Victory flag on his "tally board" displayed on his last P-38 - On November 15, 1943, Johnson had shot down a RAAF Wirraway recon/fighter (resembling a North American AT-6 Trainer or a Mitsubishi Zero from head-on!) in a head-on pass after being advised over the R/T by ground control that the Australians had left the combat area and Japanese Zeros had entered. The Wirraway pilot, RAAF Flight Officer Stewart managed to crash-land and was not seriously harmed. Johnson Air Base, Japan is named after Col. Johnson."
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/URG/grjohnson.html

IIRC wasnt there an incident where US planes shot down some Soviet ones or vice versa later in the war? How many other air "Blue on Blue" incidents happened during the war?

 

"It is a matter of historical fact that the pilot responsible for this act, a well known ace from an even better known US fighter group, later sported an Australian flag in the middle of his victory scoreboard, until its removal was ordered to help in defusing a near-riot situation which had developed between certain Australian and American air units at this time."

At the time RAAF aircraft were "loitering" near Johnson's airfield and death threats against him, and his squadron as a whole, were being made."

WOW! Not very persuasive to the solidarity of Allies LOL ! So I take it that Lt Col Johnson or the US government never apologized for the incident? It seems kind of contradictory for some one who gives his life for another.

"After the end of WWII, Colonel Johnson was KFA during an administrative mission to Japan on October 7, 1945 - Johnson, flying a B-25, and his crew had become lost in a typhoon. With the aircraft running out of fuel, Johnson ordered crew and passengers to bail out but had to give his parachute to a passenger. Johnson and co-pilot tried to nurse the aircraft safely back but were killed when the B-25 went down in the ocean."

 

"There were two more kills scored by the leading ace which the Soviets credited, which Kozhedub was more than happy to forget. In April 1945, he saw an American B-17 being attacked by a pair of German fighters. Coming to the bomber's rescue, he fired a burst between the enemy machines and their intended prey, causing the Germans to break off their attack and dive away. Before Kozhedub could pursue them, he spotted an approaching formation of unfamiliar fighters. The leader of the group opened fire on Kozhedub at long range, and the Russian ace in turn pulled up sharply behind the last machine in the formation and shot it down in flames- the fighter fell among Soviet troops on the ground.
Pulling up in half loop, Kozhedub then fired another burst on the leader of the formation, who was also shot down. It was at this point that he saw the blue and white stars on the wings and fuselage of his "enemy". Kozhedub returned to the base extremely upset, certain that his actions would result in a major row with the allies. Fortunately, one of the American pilots managed to bail out, and when asked who shot him down, he replied "a Focke-Wulf with a red nose". Col. Chupikov gave Kozhedub the gun camera film confirming his two Mustang kills, along with the admonition, "Keep this to yourself - show no one"

taken from Mellinger's LaGG & Lavochkin aces of WW2 (p.83-84)

 

"There is one example of a USAAF pilot displaying an American flag on his kill markings - and not only diplaying it proudly, but receiving a DFC for his action! Lt. Louis Curdes of the 4th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Air Commando Group was flying a P-51D on February 10, 1945, during a sweep to Batan Island. He saw a P-51 pilot parachute into the sea, and Curdes circled around him to pinpoint his position to rescuers. While circling, he saw a USAAF C-47 that was preparing to land on the Japanese-held strip on Batan. Unable to veer the C-47 away, Curdes saw only two possibilities - first that it was a Japanese plane using US markings (the DC-3 was made under licence in Japan,) or it was a US plane truly lost. He therefore carefully shot out both engines, causing the plane to land in the sea. All 13 people on board the C-47 were rescued - and they were indeed Americans, including several nurses, one of whom was a girlfriend of Curdes!

The plane had lost its way, and had tried to land in error on the Japanese-held island. Curdes' quick thinking averted the Americans' capture. He later adorned the victory scoreboard on his P-51 with seven German swastikas, one Italian fasces, one Japanese rising sun, and one American flag!"

 

"Apart from these 62 victories, Ivan Kozhedub also was forced to shoot down two U.S. P-51 Mustangs that mistakenly attacked his La-7 on one occasion. Both these P-51 losses have been verified by USAAF sources."

WW II ACE STORIES

But then there is this. Does anyone know which is true?

"As with other famous figures, mythology has sprung up around Kozhedub's life. One story is that once he encountered a group of American B-17 Flying Fortresses under attack by Luftwaffe aircraft[1]. The story goes on to suggest that his aircraft was mistaken by American escort fighters to be enemy and attacked. Kozhedub, having no other option, defended himself by shooting two of the P-51 Mustangs. So far this story isn't confirmed completely. There are certain amount of unclear facts, that can be either truth or fiction:

• Gun camera footage exists that had been touted as Kozhedub's actual gun camera film from the event. However, it is highly suspect. First, the footage was shot using Zeiss equipment which was used primarily by the Luftwaffe.
• The aircraft shown in the video are shown with drop-tanks attached. This would seem to contradict the usual telling that Kozhedub was jumped by the P-51s, as attacking fighters would dispose of these tanks before commencing aggressive offensive maneuvers. A more likely story is that the gun camera footage was from a Luftwaffe aircraft which ambushed American aircraft in an unrelated incident. However another aircraft was shown without droptanks, which can mean that the first pilot was unable or forgot to release his tanks, or perhaps even decided not to do so. "

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I also had read that after "After the Battle of Tassafaronga they formed a scouting squadron from the SOC Seagulls that no longer had a viable heavy cruiser from which to operate. Some of them were shot down by fighters from Henderson field"

Maybe they looked to much like Mitsubishi F1M "Pete"s.

 

1939 - Into Action

Tragically, the first aircraft to fall to a Spitfire's guns were two Hurricanes of No 56 Squadron, shot down by aircraft from No 74 Squadron over the Medway on 6 September 1939. This episode, in which a Blenheim was also shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire, became known as 'The Battle of Barking Creek' and was caused by a technical fault in the fighter control system. The Spitfire pilots were subsequently exonerated from any blame at a court martial, and as a direct result, the highest priority was given to the production of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment, forerunner of the modern encoding transponder.

The Spitfire - An Operational History - 2. Into Action

 

In 1939 France, British Hurricane pilot Paul Richey in his first Combat encounter was attacked by two Morane fighters while over his airfield. With 20 gallons of petrol left after shaking off the French he landed near a closeby town. One of the two French fighters had also force-landed,nosed over and broke its prop. The French pilot quickly call the local police to look for the "German" plane that had landed in the area. When told it was a British plane,his first word was "Merde" LOL.

 

I have read of an 8th Air Force ace flying a P-51 getting shot down by a 15th Airforce P-38 during the last part of the war.
It may have been mistaken for a Me-109 if it was a P-51B or C model. They do look similar at a distince.

 

You would think there would have to be some from the "Bombers" as well, not to mention some from "Friendly" ships and ground units as well. Various incidents are mentioned almost everywhere. Artillery especially.
Not something the the one(s) who did it would readily admit. Sorta like strafing/bombing a friendly.
I'm sure it happened everywhere. I believe TA Gardner stated that the reason for the "white" recognition stripes on Russian tanks (late in the war), was because something more than a few got "lit-up" by Allied ground attack aircraft?
I wonder if these guys painted a ring on the tube, or a silhouette on a panel?
Most (hopefully) were unavoidable, yet unfortunate.

 

There is always the famous photo and film sequence where a B-24 is accidently hit by the bombs falling from a B-24 flying above it. But that wasn't intentional LOL.

 

And in Sept of 42 32 British and Australian Hampdens were flying to Russia to take part in convoy protection. One was shot down by Soviet aircraft.

 

These stories always make me think of a football match when aplayer scores against his own team . I have quite a few examples in the battle of France. It seems that in 1939 the French and the English almost had the same roundels on their aircrafts. They would sometimes think it was a German imitation of their own nationality but it wa sin fact a friendly plane. The French later painted much larger roundels to allow a better identification.

 

Though not exactly "Friendly Fire" I remember reading about an incident where Swiss ME-109s were escorting a US bomber to be interned when a US P-51 pilot noticed what was happening. He thought the bomber was being attacked by Germans and went in and shot down one of the 109s.

 

There is also the theory of Glenn Miller's plane having a Lancaster bomb dropped on his aircraft over the English Channel.

 

Just on the lines of this, I have a couple of pictures in a book showing a higher B-17 dropping his payload onto a B-17 that strayed under him.

Edit: "Not all losses were due to enemy action. A B-17F ot the 91st BG sheds its load without realising that another aircraft has strayed almost directly beneath it. The first bomb strikes the tailplane without detonating, bending down. In the final picture the Fortress goes down out of control; the victim of poor lookout and less than perfect station-keeping.

I will try and get the picture on.

 

Here we go, just bear in mind I am not good at the picture editing so I am just displaying it as it is in the book

 

I dont remember where but I read that one of the opening battles of the battle of Britain actually involved a Spifire squadron 'jumping' a Hurricane squadron out on patrol and shot a few down.

Can canyone verify this?

 

Check out my post #7 here .

 

Thanks mate I must have missed that one