A Brief History
On September 6, 1939, the Battle of Barking Creek in the skies over England became an historic event for Britain’s RAF, the first loss of an RAF fighter plane and fighter pilot during World War II. Unfortunately, this “combat” was a mistake, as radar operators misidentified the blips on their screen as enemy aircraft when in fact those menacing blips flying toward the English coast were actually RAF Hurricane fighters.
Digging Deeper
Spitfire fighters scrambled to intercept the supposed enemy and promptly shot down a pair of the incoming Hurricanes, killing one of the unfortunate pilots. Such cases of so called “friendly fire” resulting in shooting down your own planes are not unusual in wartime.
Some notable incidents of a military shooting down its own planes include:
In the aftermath of the sneak attack against Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, American anti-aircraft gunners were understandably jumpy and shot down American planes coming in for a landing after the attack.
In 1956, a US Navy pilot actually shot himself down in his Grumman F-11F Tiger by flying into the path of his own 20mm cannon shells that he had fired.
In the Russia-Ukraine War of 2022-2024 (so far) it appears the Russians have accidentally shot down some of their own aircraft.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Can you think of other friendly fire incidents where allied planes were shot down?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Ledwidge, Frank. Aerial Warfare: The Battle for the Skies. Kindle, 2018.
Sarkar, Dilip. Sailor’ Malan—Freedom Fighter: The Inspirational Story of a Spitfire Ace. Lindle, 2021.
