WWII: How many fighter planes were shot down by U.S. bombers?

[LVSteve]

The P-38 suffered from "compressibility" which caused a reversal of the elevator control at high speeds, usually in dives.

The solution was to install speed brakes which restored effectiveness of the controls by lowering the speed.

The first sets of speed brakes were lost in shipment to the U.K..

Q: Who shot down the plane carrying the speed brakes?

A: The RAF, who apparently mistook the U.S.A.A.F. C-54 for a Luftwaffe FW-200.

The RAF were pretty good at blue on blue during WWII. During the Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots seemed to have a lot of hate for Hurricanes. You must have some bad astigmatism to mistake a chunky Hurricane for a sleek Bf-109E. Joking aside, the optical quality of the canopy and windscreen on many WWII aircraft left much to be desired.

 

[Cyrano]

Another questions about bombers is: how many of our own bombers did we shoot down with .50's and our own bombs?

My good friend was an infantryman in WWII and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He had a very close friend who went into the Air Force an was a pilot of a B 29. Over Japan, his aircraft was hit by a dropped bomb and I think all aboard that bomber were killed.

 

[cmort666]

Joking aside, the optical quality of the canopy and windscreen on many WWII aircraft left much to be desired.

Supposedly, the Soviet LaGG3 was the worst for this, with the canopy glass sometimes being compared to "bottle glass".