Warbird Information Exchange

Capt Louis Curdes 4th Fighter Squadron 3rd Air Commando Group 5th Air Force PI Aug 1945.
Curdes scored 8 P-38 kills in the 82nd FG and was a POW for a short time.
P-51D -20 s/n 44-63272 #C "Bad Angel"

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Jack, with the one American kill, is he the one that shot down a transport flying a bunch of nurses trying to land on the wrong island and did so that they wouldn't be captured??

TIA,

Lynn

Ok Jack,
what is the story of the American flag on the kill board ? come on, cough it up.

Thats the one!

Curdes flew P38s with the 82nd. Got captured in Italy but soon escaped. He was repatriated to the US and was transfered to the 3rd ACG based out of the Philippines in late 44. His sole Japanese victory was over a Dinah.

The C-47 victory happened when a member of his flight had to bail into the drink. While circling above to coordinate rescue efforts Curdes saw a C-47 attempting to land on enemy held Battan island. He tried to lead the transport away to no avail. So he shot out one engine forcing the pilot to ditch. All 13 people on the Gooney Bird as well as the Mustang were safely rescued.

I cant get enough of these type stories!

Curdes flew with the 95th FS and was downed on Aug 27, 1943 over Italy.
His Dinah kill was on Feb 7, 1945 over Formosa.
The C-47 incident was on Feb 10, 1945 near Bataan Island.
Suddenly, Curdes noticed a black speck coming from the southwest toward the enemy-held landing strip at Bataan. Then the speck became a dead ringer for a C-47. And, as the wheels came down on the transport, Curdes saw the American markings. Curdes closed to give the 47 a closer look. At this point, AAA opened up - at Curdes’ P-51 but not at the transport. Curdes banked steeply headed into the flak, and opened up with its fifties on the C-47’s right engine. As the transport headed out to sea, with one engine gone, Curdes made a 180-degree turn fired into the other engine. The C-47 settled into the water.
Curdes dived in to strafe after all occupants of the transport climbed aboard life rafts, but he observed in time that the survivors were Caucasian. So he went back to his low level circling. His water bound charges had grown from one to thirteen. When darkness fell and still no help had arrived, Curdes figured all would be safe until dawn and returned to his base. The next morning before daylight, he and his wingman took off. And they were circling over the survivors when a rescue Catalina arrived to pick them up. Back at base, Curdes learned that the C-47 had been American manned with 12 occupants including two Army nurses. The pilot had become lost during a flight from Art island in the southern Philippines and had been forced to head for the nearest visible strip because of a fuel shortage. One of the nurses was the "date" he had been with the night before at Lingayen. He was later awarded the DFC

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Don't touch my junk!!

He later married the nurse.
bill word