Warbird Information Exchange

This was posted on Facebook a few days ago, but one would think it unlikely that the Russians would intentionally shoot down an American aircraft. Has anybody heard of this happening?







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Douglas/Long Beach B-17G-60-DL Fortress 44-6697 (2nd BG, 429th BS) disabled by AAA Mar 22, 1945 on mission to Ruhland, Germany. Headed to Russian lines but shot down by Russian fighters. 6 crew survived. MACR 13245

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Zero Surprise!!...

I would not put it past them. My dad was in Troop Transport after the war and during one of their cargo runs they were intercepted by russian fighters and forced to land in russian territory. upon landing the pilots were taken one direction, my dad another. For a week, every morning my dad was taken back to the plane and allowed to pre flight it, they never touched the cargo. At the end of the week, right after he finished the pre-flight, the pilots were brought out to the plane, they got in, took off and never said a word to each other or my dad, he never found out what had happened to them.

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Matt Gunsch, A&P, IA, Warbird maint and restorations
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Yes, things like that evidently did happen. Russian ace Ivan Kozhedub in particular is said to have shot down several US B-17's, in one event, that didn't react to his unit's warnings after flying into Russian-controlled airspace over Germany. He also shot down a couple of P-51's on a mission when they mistook him for a German fighter and tried attacking him. On a mission on March 18, 1945, the US 368th and 369th Fighter Squadrons, flying P-51's, shot down 9 Russian fighters (La-5's and Yak-9's) that were initially thought to have been German fighters. The US pilots broke off the action when they figured out they were Russian, but some of the Russian pilots wanted to keep fighting and so it continued (there were no US losses in that fight). Capt. Ralph Cox (who shot down three La-5's) and Maj. Niven Cranfill (who shot down two Yak-9's) were both credited as aces after that mission.

My Father says that during the war , RAF Spitfires shot down a B-17 that the crew had bailed out of on the way back from a mission over Europe into Liverpool bay as they were worried about it turning back inland and crashing on a populated area. My Father said he was only about ten years old at the time 1944 ?.
I have never been able to confirm this as being true ,it may just be war time hearsay , not the same as the Russian's shooting them down but still interesting if true .

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495th F.T.G your not forgotten

and you had a 14th FG P-38 pilot, after he was liberated in April 1945, he went hunting Russia aircraft, shot down several before being quietly sent home

One has to wonder if it had anything at all to do with the Germans getting downed American aircraft airworthy? May have made the Russians a bit jittery with quick trigger fingers. One of the many millions of hazards created during wartime. One General during the Civil War made a statement that still rings true..."War should be Hell lest we grow fond of it".

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

I don't find it odd that they would shoot down an American bomber.They were never our friends.They kept three of our B-29 bombers and their crews.Even today, 75 years later, they make close, dangerous, high speed passes at our P-8s and B-1 bombers over the Baltic Sea.They will shoot one down and blame us for it one of these days.

Does not help that the United States flew U-2 and SR-71's over Russia.
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It also does not help that Russian pilots are so blind, they can not tell the difference between a 747 and a RC-135

Where'd you find this?

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Zero Surprise!!...

My experience with them in Africa was that they were often blind drunk. On one job we had to "blow" every morning at the UN office at the airfield, and so did the Russians. One day, after they had all congratulated each other with laughter and back-slapping for having passed the sobriety test in the the morning, the UN met them at the airplane after landing and tested them again.

They all failed. Their airplane sat on the ground for a few days until a new crew came in to replace them.

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"It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it."

14th FG unit history

Thanks for Posting very interesting.

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