Warbird Information Exchange

…. that are known to have fought against each other? Perhaps an example would be a bf-109, or parts of one, displayed in a museum and a currently flying spitfire that is known to have shot it down or damaged it. Or vise versa. Neither aircraft need to be currently airworthy or fully intact, just proven to have had combat against each other in some fashion.

I didn't think so ....

Do we know the history of the Zero in the Auckland War Memorial Museum? Slim chance it operated in the same area as a surviving P-40?

How would one know?
Most opposing pilots aren't tail spotters who note the serial of the aircraft they are fighting with.
By searching unit records it could be determined which unit and who was flying on a given day. Then, the opposition unit records would have to survive and a series of enemy aircraft could be identified...but going Beyond that...saying one particular plane shot at another would be tough to prove.

The only exception would be a fight involving a celebrity pilot (a lot of WWI pilots said they were shot down by the Red Baron) or well known axis plane damaged and crashlands (like the "Black 6" Bf-109) that somehow survived being scrapped.

And if cout, the simple fact that combat survivors are very rare pretty much statistically makes two that fought each other surviving very unlikely.

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I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

Well, P-47 Dottie Mae and the Lake that brought it down are both still around. So at least you have that!

Surviving wreckage of both aircraft from a mid-air collision perhaps?

I was thinking there may have been a Spitfire with a combat record which may have included a Luftwaffe aircraft or parts from one located at a Museum somewhere. Not too far a stretch to think on those lines IMHO.

M

There's the remnant of the Zero that crash-landed at Niihau after the December 7th attack, on display at the Pearl Harbor museum, along with a private aircraft that was shot at that morning - close as it gets?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Although Shigenori Nishikaichi wasn't responsible for the shoot down, I believe he was involved in the general scrum that saw Gordon Sterling's P-36 go down. I seem to recall divers finding a prop near where he went in to the water. Has any piece of Sterling's P-36 ever been confirmed?

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

IIRC there were a Spitfire, Hurricane and Bf-109 (E I think) that were for sale in the UK early 2000s that were advertised as having been in the same battle but nothing about actual combat against each other.