The American Fighter Pilot Who Shot Down an American Airplane – Deliberately
Pictured above is American ace Louis Edward Curdes in his P-51 Mustang. On the fuselage below the cockpit is a painted display of his victories, each marked with a flag or emblem that denotes the downed plane’s nationality. There are swastikas for shot down German airplanes, a fascist roundel for a victory over an Italian aircraft, and a Rising Sun for a downed Japanese airplane. However, there is an oddity that stands out: an American flag, denoting that one of Curdes’ victories was over an American airplane. There was a fascinating tale behind that.
Curdes was born in Indiana in 1919. When America joined WWII, he was a third year engineering student at Purdue. He dropped out to join the US Army Air Forces, and was sent to the Mediterranean Theater in March, 1943. There, he was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force’s 95th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group. Curfdes flew a P-38 Lightning, and on his first combat mission on April 29th, 1943, he shot down three German Messerschmitt Bf 109s in Tunisia. Three weeks later, he became an ace when he shot down two more enemy airplanes over Sardinia. That June, he added an Italian fighter. He downed two more German 109s, but immediately after his eighth kill, he was himself shot down near Rome. Curdes was captured and thrown into an Italian POW camp. As seen below, he did not stay there for long.
