In China, an AVG pilot in a P-40 shot down a B-25 Mitchell thinking it
was a Japanese bomber. Happily the crew was able to bail out safely.
They reported that they had been attacked by "Zeros".


Par for the course...

On the Stormbirds website, the author of the Hillis piece goes into some detail
about how captured Allied fighters 'infiltrated' US formations: yet another
example of the confusion of aerial combat.
No German unit operating captured Allied aircraft tried this - instead, just
as we had done with theirs, the incredibly rare turncoats that were in good
enough condition to be returned to flying status (propellers were nearly always
dinged, engines damaged in crashes, etc.) were used to train LW pilots on the
capabilities and characteristics of the enemy aircraft and as such, they were
priceless. It should be noted that when turncoat aircraft were actually used
operationally in battle areas (B-17s primarily), it was done so at night, to
minimize their exposure to enemy fighters. Sending them up to tag along with
Allied formations would be literal suicide. As for the report of a "German
P-47" attacking other US fighters without markings, the "Luftwaffe pilot"
would be a target for absolutely everyone else in the sky - there would be no
"friends or foes", just a sky filled with foes and every flak gun on either
side of the lines would be shooting at it. Imagine us sending a captured MiG
15 up to battle other MiG 15s over the Yalu. Stripping such an event down to
its most basic likely explanation, this is either a tragic friendly fire
episode, or (every bit as likely) just plain poor recognition of an e/a in the
middle of a cloudy day. Its happened before and since.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.