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Did luftwaffe fighters sometimes shoot their own planes?

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    #1

    Did luftwaffe fighters sometimes shoot their own planes?

    i was wondering this when i was playing ill2 sturmovik and i shot one of my comrades down because of all the chaos i dint see gut^^

    are there any stories know of aces or other pilots making these mistakes

    cya
    michael
    Tags: None
    #2
    It happened a lot on both sides.


    20 odd years ago, way back when i was in the army i did an aircraft recognition instructors course and i remember them using examples from WWII of aircraft types that suffered from misidentification more than others. The Beaufighter was one iirc.

    Also, if you read after action reports from both sides you'll see that wrongly identified aircraft types was very common indeed.
    Collecting German award documents, other paperwork and photos relating to Norway and Finland.

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      #3
      Yes indeed! It happened often in ground attacks too, on both sides.
      Contrary to popular opinion, the United States Air Force did NOT invent friendly fire

      Johnnie

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        #4
        i remember reading a dAY BY DAY account of the desert air operatons , it mentions an Italian pilot who shot down a luftwaffe transport over a Italian ,German airfield , a bf109 was sent up to shoot him down which it promply did

        Comment

          #5
          Originally posted by Johnnie View Post
          Yes indeed! It happened often in ground attacks too, on both sides.
          Contrary to popular opinion, the United States Air Force did NOT invent friendly fire

          Johnnie
          I think that honor goes to the ARVIN's.

          Comment

            #6
            Unfortunately all to common on the ground or in the air in combat....nowadays they call it blue on blue!

            Even Douglas Bader was shot down by one of his own!!!

            /Ian
            Photos/images copyright © Ian Jewison collection

            Collecting interests: Cavalry units, 1 Kavallerie/24 Panzer Division, Stukageschwader 1

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              #7
              Yep!

              Johnnie

              Originally posted by Nicholas Link View Post
              I think that honor goes to the ARVIN's.

              Comment

                #8
                Unfortunately all to common on the ground
                I immediately thought of those German crews assigned to a T-34 at Kursk.

                Every 6 months or so we had vehicle identification refresher... I felt sorry for you guys in non-USA NATO vehicles which were labeled as "enemy" about 1/2 the time.
                Last edited by Michael Root; 04-17-2008, 02:38 PM.
                Don't believe everything you read on the internet, that's how WWI got started.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Ian Jewison View Post
                  Unfortunately all to common on the ground or in the air in combat....nowadays they call it blue on blue!

                  Even Douglas Bader was shot down by one of his own!!!

                  /Ian
                  i thought that score went to galland

                  Comment

                    #10
                    One of many searches from Google:

                    By August 1941, Bader had claimed 22 German planes shot down, the fifth highest total in the RAF. On 9 August 1941, Bader was shot down and taken prisoner. Although he believed for years that he had collided in mid-air with a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Le Touquet, recent research shows no "Bf 109 was lost to a collision that day and he may have been shot down by a Bf 109F of II/JG26 flown by Feldwebel Meyer.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-6>[7]</SUP> As he tried to bail out, his right prosthetic leg became trapped in the aircraft, and he only escaped when the leg's retaining straps snapped.
                    More recently, in a Channel 4 documentary "Who Downed Douglas Bader?", aired on 28 August2006, research by air historian Andy Saunders now suggests that he may have been a victim of "friendly fire," shot down by one of his fellow RAF pilots after becoming detached from his own squadron.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-Ch4_history_Bader_7-0>[8]</SUP> RAF combat records indicate Bader may have been shot down by F/L "Buck" Casson of No. 616 Squadron RAF, who claimed a "Bf 109 whose tail came off and the pilot bailed out." Bader was flying at the rear of the German fighter formation, alone, and his squadron were the opposite side of the Germans. "Buck" only had a few seconds in which he saw Bader and mistook his Spitfire for a Bf 109. Ironically, Casson was also shot down and made prisoner that same day. Whether Bader devised the collision story to cover for a fellow pilot is left unresolved.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-Ch4_history_Bader_7-1>[8]</SUP>
                    Bader was captured by German forces, who treated him with great respect. General Adolf Galland, a German flying ace, notified the British of his damaged leg and offered them safe passage to drop off a replacement. The British responded on 19 August 1941 with the 'Leg Operation'- an RAF bomber was allowed to drop a new prosthetic leg by parachute to St Omer, a Luftwaffe base in occupied France, as part of Circus 81 involving six Blenheim bombers and a sizeable fighter escort. The Germans were less impressed when, task done, the bombers proceeded onto their bombing mission to Gosnay power station near Bethune, although bad weather prevented the target being attacked.
                    General Galland stated in an interview that the aircraft dropped the leg after bombing his (Galland's) airfield. <SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-8>[9]</SUP>
                    Bader tried to escape from the hospital where he was recovering, and over the next few years proved as big a thorn in the side of the Germans as he had been to the RAF establishment. He made so many attempts at escape that the Germans threatened to take away his legs. Initially held at Stalag Luft III at Sagan, his "goon-baiting" of the camp guards reached such heights that he was finally dispatched to the "escape-proof" Colditz Castle Oflag IV-C, where he remained until the spring of 1945 when it was relieved by the 1st US Army. When Bader subsequently arrived in Paris, true to form, he requested a Spitfire so that he could rejoin the fighting before the war was over, only to be refused.

                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader

                    Another:
                    http://www.channel4.com/history/micr...a-b/bader.html
                    Photos/images copyright © Ian Jewison collection

                    Collecting interests: Cavalry units, 1 Kavallerie/24 Panzer Division, Stukageschwader 1

                    Comment

                      #11
                      One U boot ace, Cremer maybe? cant remember. well he sunk a german ship once by mistake

                      Comment

                        #12
                        It also happened between spanish pilots in Rusia, some stories of this kind can be read in the book "la escuadrilla azul"

                        Comment

                          #13
                          George Preddy NC Ace

                          Here is an example of friendly fire.. NC Top Mustang ACE shot down by friendly fire George Preddy, both he and his brother were KIA...BILL

                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Preddy

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Some moore on William Preddy of Greensboro, NC

                            http://www.preddy-foundation.org/bill_preddy_bio.htm

                            Comment

                              #15
                              More on George Preddy US ACE.........From Greensboro, NC

                              http://www.aviation-history.com/airmen/preddy.htm

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