Warbird Information Exchange

This aircraft shot down a B-17

_________________
B-17s of the French IGN in French
B-17s of the French IGN in English
IGN Fortresses on Facebook
Half Pint: the real story of the Pink Lady

Come on mate, need a bit more info than that

It's been discussed on the forum before, and there's quite a few web references. Have a look, and let us know what you find!

Interesting story, IIRC.

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Nice work!

But the demarcation line between the Olive Drab and Neutral Gray doesn't look quite right. I believe it should be wavy, and lower down on the nacelle and fuselage. Judging by the painted-out USAAF insignia, I'm assuming it still retains its American camouflage?

SN

Some time ago on one Italian forum was discusion about this machine.

_________________
Owner: http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com
Owner: http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/forum
Owner: http://www.sreckobradic.com
Email: srecko.warplane@gmail.com
Skype: sreckobradic
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/LetLetLet ... 8234397758

I found this
http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org/forum ... entry32280

Steve Birdsall answered my request for information on this subject on page 2 of this topic on WIX a few months ago

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=28700

I am out of town and away from my files for a week, but I have done extensive research on this P-38 and the Aug 11, 1943 incident.

My dad was a tail gunner in the 419th BS at the time and was in the tail end Charlie Fortress at the time of the attack. He is sure he got some hits in the P-38's wing on one pass.

The Martin Caidin story is 95% fiction. He did get the Squadron correct.

My Dad's B-17 was heavily damaged by the rogue Lightning and they ended up belly landing in the desert about ten miles from their base in North Africa as a result. All crew walked away. Their pilot Silvestri Silvestri (same name first & last, no middle initial) was highly criticized by the upper Group officers for not getting their ship all the way home. He was transfered out of the Group immediately after and my dad's crew became a bit of an orphan crew for the rest of some 43 missions. Interestingly the record of this Aug 11 mission was stricken from the crew's records and no one got credit for it in their 50 missions lists. My dad would see other interesting cover-ups like this in a 20-yr Air Force aircrew career.

I always welcome any new surfacing data on this event.

Lowell Thompson
Kellogg, Idaho

Reeeeeeaaaallly...

One of the reasons I love studying WWII history so much is stories like this... the USAAC was not this well-oiled, all-conquering machine as so much postwar propaganda would have us believe. It was a massive bureaucracy like any other government organization, with high points and low points, with brilliant commanders and paper-pushing REMFs who did all they could to make life miserable for the guys up at the sharp end. Sounds like this is a classic example of the latter- I mean, what kind of idiot commander would berate and transfer a pilot for being unable to coax his heavily damaged aircraft back to base?

Thanks for the input!

Lynn

Interesting story and paint scheme! You might also want to work the Cooler Scoop a bit to get it to "POP", it is a tricky bit!