Interesting B-17 Bomber

I'd be scared to death flying around friendly territory in a captured enemy plane during wartime, whether it has been repainted or not. :eek:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the AA-gun crews trained to recognize plane silhouettes high up in the sky instead of looking for their actual markings? Or did someone send them all a memo NOT to shoot any B-17's on the days that this thing was actually taking off a German airfield? If that's the case, then there goes all the secrecy!

Weird... capturing a plane in order to analyze / reverse engineer it is one thing, but actually putting it into service would require some pretty big cohones from whoever is supposed to fly the damn thing, lol! You can just picture Hans and Klaus sitting behind the AA-gun on the ground yelling to their CO: "Achtung!!! Americanisch B-17!!"

...and getting the reply "Feuer!!!!" (Fire).

:D

weapon_flak38_24
 
AA defences were controlled. You could plot a course to avoid some, issue orders to others to hold fire at certain times, escort the funny plane over your own territory with some of your own fighters. Of course any of the measures could go wrong, but there is always risk anyway.
 
I read something where the Germans would take recently captured planes (B-17 or 24 were usual) still painted in US colours and enter the US bomber stream (you know, cause a random plane entering the formation wouldn't be noticed or anything).

Once in, the gunners would open fire with everything on what ever was closest, then the plane would make for the deck breaking out of formation, which often broke up. Minutes later, German fighters would arrive and start picking off straglers and damaged A/C. The US fighters in the area would be chasing the gun plane (or may have at least dropped their external tanks and need to return home soon).

I can't find the reference for it, so it might just have been a really good work of fiction.
 
I vote for fiction. As the continual up-gunning of interceptors indicates, bombers take a lot of killing, and a B-17 or B-24 only has a bunch of .50s
 
A handfull of .50s into an engine can do very nasty things.

I knew a guy who was a cadet in the Czech Air Force in 1938. he was given the choice of continuing to fly, for Uncle Adolf, or going to a camp to concentrate or something. He chose staying out of camps, finished his flying training and flew a Ju-87 in Russia for a tour. Thing is, the Ju-87 was so rough on the pilots that once you did enough missions, you could go to another type. He went to a 109 squadron, flew with it for a while and got tired of Messerschmitts.

So he did the logical thing and, first time he had a decent chance, landed his 109 at an RAF field and swapped it for a Spit. I actually saw his Czech Air Force licence: he was rated for JU-87, BF-109 and Supermarine Spitfire XIV.... and he had combat experience in all 3 types.

I asked him which was the better kite, the 109 or the Spit and he said that the one was about as good as the other, but they were DIFFERENT and it depended on the PILOT to get the best out of the plane`s individual characteristics.

BTW Coldstream Guards had a battalion of Panthers as late as 1946 for sure, France had some into the 1960s. I want one!

Hope this helps.
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Regarding air defense: it would be super rare to see a single B-17 flying overhead. AA crews probably wouldn't fire on it. These bombers traveled in sorties of 100s of planes.
 
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