P-38 captured!

[tony.osborne]

I share with you some rare pictures (in color and w/b) of fighters Lockheed P-38 Lightnings captured and with German and Italian markings during World War II. Does anyone know how many were captured and how they came to Europe once they have been used in the Pacific? To view the photos visit the link below:


Aviação em Floripa: P-38 Lightning capturados


Best Regards.

 

[williepete]

One of the captured P-38s was delivered to the Germans by an American pilot who defected:

Captured P-38 Lightning

Actually an F-5E, a reconnaissance version of the P-38. This particular aircraft, sporting Luftwaffe markings, was stolen by American pilot Martin James Monti when he defected to the German side.

Monti left his base in Karachi, Pakistan on October 13, 1944, hitched a ride aboard a C-46 to Cairo, and from there he traveled to Italy via Tripoli. He stole the plane from the 354th Air Service Squadron and flew it to Milan, where he surrendered it to the Germans and defected. He became a member of the SS, gained the rank of lieutenant, and participated in radio propaganda broadcasts to the United States and to American troops in Europe under the pseudonym Captain Martin Wiethaupt. After the German surrender, he returned to Italy and and turned himself in at the Fifth Army Headquarters, still wearing his SS uniform.

Monti was court-martialed and sentenced to 15 years for desertion, but was pardoned after less than a year on the condition that he join the Army as a private. In 1948, having achieved the rank of sergeant, he was given a general discharge under honorable conditions, but was promptly arrested by the FBI, as his activities in Germany had become known. Ultimately, Monti was tried for treason and sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was paroled in 1960, and died in 2000.

 

[williepete]

The Italians acquired a P-38G due to a navigational error:


U.S. Army Air Force Resource Center - A Warbirds Resource Group Site

Italian pilots in the Mediterranean theatre started to face P-38s from late 1942 and considered it a formidable foe compared to other fighters, including the Supermarine Spitfire. A small number of P-38s fell into the hands of German and Italian units and were subsequently tested and used in combat.

On 12 June 1943, a P-38G, while flying a special mission between Gibraltar and Malta, landed on the airfield of Capoterra (Cagliari), in Sardinia, from navigation error due to a compass failure. Regia Aeronautica chief test pilot colonnello Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Tondi flew the aircraft to Guidonia airfield where the P-38G was evaluated. On 11 August 1943, Tondi took off to intercept a formation of about 50 B-24s, returning from the bombing of Terni (Umbria). Tondi attacked a bomber that fell off the shore of Torvaianica, near Rome, while six airmen were parachuting. That was the first and last war mission for the plane, as the Italian petrol was too corrosive for the Lockheed tanks. Other Lightnings were eventually acquired by Italy for postwar service.

 

[Mr. H.]

Check out the Facebook page "I Love WWll Planes".

 

[williepete]

If you're interested in the P-38, you might find this list interesting:

17 Things You Never Knew About The P-38 Lightning







----------------------------