unfriendly friendlies

Cub Driver wrote in message . ..
The first case I can remember reading about
is during the Allied invasion of N. Africa, when P-36s flown by Vichy
French were encountered, but it seems there must have been previous
instances -- WWI, interwar, or earlier WWII.

Yep, the Wildcats fought the Mohawks (H-75s to the French), along with
a few A-20 Havoc types (DB-6s to the French).

Somewhat similar, the Finns flew Brewster Buffaloes against Curtiss
P-40s and Hawker Hurricanes, though of course there were no Americans
(or Brits) on either side. The Finns sometimes replaced their Wright
Cylone engines with Russian-built copies of the Cyclone, then flew
them against their former owners.

In February 1942, the Japanese army 64th Sentai captured two
Hurricanes in the Dutch Indies and flew them to Thailand, intending to
use them on spook raids against British bases in Burma.
www.warbirdforum.com/werewolf.htm



all the best -- Dan Ford
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see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com


A few more examples:

-The design of the WWI Machi flying boats was based on a captured
Austrian Lohner flying boat.

- In WWI, both sides manufactured and used the Le Rhone rotaries and
the Austro-Daimler six cylinder inline engines

-During the foreign intervention in the civil war between the Whites
and Reds in Ruyssia, both sides would have used aircraft from the
former allies. However, I don't know to what extent these would have
been involved in combat.

- I have a recollection that the Germans used a captured British
bomber to reconnoiter parts of the UK early in WW 2.

-When Germany attacked Yugoslavia in 1941, the Yugoslav airforce was
equipped with Bf109Es.

-The Norwegians used He 115 float planes at the time of the German
attack during 1940, some of which wound up in British hands.

-The Japanese used licence built versions of the DC-3 and Electra and
developed an unsuccessful heavy bomber based in part on the prototype
DC-4E, which had been purchased before the war.

-The Soviet Union had bought examples of various German aircraft
before the German invasion. I have a recollection that some of these
may have been used for clandestne missions.

Robert Inkol