Grand Theft Aircraft

[Smokey]

Here are some examples of grand theft aircraft. Does anyone know any more?

Hero of the Soviet Union T. Kuznetsov survived the crash of his Il-2 in 1942 when shot down returning from a reconnaissance mission. Kuznetsov was able to escape from the wreck and hid nearby. To his surprise, a German Bf 109 landed near the crash site and the pilot began to scrounge around the wrecked Il-2 for souvenirs. Thinking quickly, Kuznetsov ran to the German fighter and used it to fly home, barely avoiding being shot down by Soviet fighters in the process.

Ilyushin Il-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bob Hoover managed to escape from the prison camp, stole a Fw 190, and flew to safety in the Netherlands
"I just opened the throttle full power," he said. "I didn't taxi out. I just went straight out across the grass field without going on the taxiway to the runway. I got airborne and pulled the gear up. Then, the stupidity of what I was doing hit me. I thought, 'Here I am in a German airplane, no parachute; some second lieutenant right out of flight training could wipe me out in an instant.'"

Bob Hoover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airport Journals

[FLYBOYJ]

I do know of a guy who was an instructor in Iran when the Shaw fell from power. He and a USAF NCO stole an IRAF F-5B and flew it to Saudi Arabia. Someday I'll post his whole story here, I want to get his permission to use his real name.

[comiso90]

Originally Posted by Smokey

Here are some examples of grand theft aircraft. [/url]

Nice post.... we've seen it before in war movies. It's cool to read the real thing

.

[A4K]

Agreed comiso! Great idea Smokey!

[Velius]

Originally Posted by Smokey

Thinking quickly, Kuznetsov ran to the German fighter and used it to fly home

I wonder what the L.W. pilot's thoghts were as he saw his plane fly away

[Mangrove]

Originally Posted by Smokey

Thinking quickly, Kuznetsov ran to the German fighter and used it to fly home, barely avoiding being shot down by Soviet fighters in the process.

I'm thinking this is a some kind of urban legend. First of all Kuznetsov was a Soviet IL-2 pilot. I assume the German pilot had turn the engine off so it would be quite an achievement him to turn on the engine without any knowledge from German language / fighter planes. Second the source is a 1960s era book. I haven't read the book myself but I doubt it's very faithful to real events.

[Kruska]

Originally Posted by Mangrove

I'm thinking this is a some kind of urban legend.....

Yes indeed, I would analyse it in the same manner.

Regards
Kruska

[Krabat42]

I assume the German pilot had turn the engine off

Why should he do that? IF you land your 109 away from your airfield, you probably want to start again quick, so you probably leave the engine running idle. The 109 must be started with a inertia starter, this is quite difficult without a second man.

Mind you, I too think that many of these stories are legends, but if you want to dismiss them, it's not that easy.

Krabat

[magnu]

Not exactly stealing from the enemy but in Group captain Duncan Smiths' memoirs he tells of an engineer who, on discovering the airfield at the front line was critically short of planes due to serviceability, borrowed a spitfire and flew himself there to see if he could get some back in the air.
Most remarkable of all was the fact that he had never flown before and took off flew there and made a very good landing using only a copy of the pilots handling notes
He was later court martialed for the offense but was exhonerated

[wingnuts]

There was one well known failed attempt at stealing a Hurricane by Franz von Werra, "The one that got away".

Oberleutnant Franz von Werra

Franz von Werra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Waynos]

Not really the same thing at all I would imagine, but does anyone know how the RAF acquired a Yak 9?

[Smokey]

Originally Posted by Waynos

Not really the same thing at all I would imagine, but does anyone know how the RAF acquired a Yak 9?

There's this post...

By the way, I hope I'm not getting into any hot water by posting these unauthorized from somewhere, but I've had these three profiles of a Yak-9 during various periods in it's remarkable service life - from postwar VVS service as "White 27", then handed over to the Bulgarian air force and repainted by them as "White 39", then again repainted in Italy by the RAF and used as the personal aircraft of RAF Commander James A Storer (I believe that was his name?) after a Bulgarian pilot defected in it! Yes, there were actual photos to go with these profiles but unfortunately I lost them in a HD crash some time ago Sad My question is, is the aircraft in question a Yak-9D or Yak-9DD?

From this forum

ICM Yak-9DD

[Smokey]

Someone else is guilty of Grand Theft Aircraft...

Not long after scrambling into their dingy after the crash Ted and his crew where picked up by an Italian sea plane and made prisoners of war.
It did not take them long to learn that they would be taken to Taranto in Italy where they would spend the rest of the war as prisoners.
The thought of their approaching doom spurred them into taking action against their captors. With the watchful eyes of the guard on them and limited communication the worlds first skyjack swung into action.
They started straight for the radio operator, clearly to make sure no contact was made to the base and successfully took him out. They then overpowered an unexpected guard and managed to get his weapon off him. The first part of their attack was successful but the turning point came when the co-pilot pulled a pistol on them. Luck was on their side however as it was one the Italian’s own comrades that knocked the weapon from his hands in the frantic struggle to regain control. It was after that bit of fortune in the frenzied chaos that they knew the plane was theirs, and Ted wasted no time in taking over the controls.
New problems now became apparent. The first and more immediate issue was that they were fast running low on fuel. After asking the Italian Engineer kindly (at gunpoint) to switch to reserves and by changing their route, flying rather to their base at Malta instead of the African coast, this first problem was quickly taken care of. Next was the problem of flying an Italian plane. Ted’s experience was sufficient to fly an Italian plane but to the allies this was an enemy aircraft fast approaching the Malta coast. Soon there were spitfires gunning them down. Normally the sight of spitfires off the wing of his torpedo bomber would have been comforting, however this was clearly not a Bristol Beaufort bomber and with holes being shot in his tail this was definitely not comforting. Ted hurled the first pilot back into his seat and ordered him in hurried sign-language to land in the sea.
One of the men then whipped off his shirt and took his vest — the only white article he had — and waved it out of the window making it clear that they had come to surrender — albeit to their own side!
The first wave of spits managed to do fair damage to the plane but they landed safely and the worlds 1st skyjack was over.
Astonished to see four RAF’s in the Italian plane a member of the launch team towing them back to St Paul’s Bay said “We thought it was old Mussolini coming to give himself up!”

From

BBC - WW2 People's War - The World's First Air Hijack!

Presently an Italian Cant Z506 float-plane alighted about 100 yards away. The South African lieutenant swam over to it, and was courteously received with brandy and cigarettes as he explained in pantomime what had happened. The rest of the crew were taken aboard, and the three-engined float-plane taxied laboriously to a nearby island. Here they were given the use of the officers' mess for the rest of the day and were treated to an excellent dinner and a lively party in the evening. In the morning photographs were taken and the Cant set course for Taranto. The crew consisted of first and second pilot, engineer, and wireless operator-observer, the escort being one Italian corporal carrying a revolver. Shortly before the flight began our men had discussed the possibility of capturing the aircraft. Sergeant Wilkinson was the first to see an opportunity. He was sitting facing the Italian observer, behind whom sat the escort with his revolver at his waist. Attracting the observer's attention, he hit him heavily on the jaw, jumped over him and seized the astonished escort's revolver. Passing this to Lieutenant Strever, Wilkinson moved toward the Italian pilot using the Corporal as a shield. Strever followed behind Wilkinson, brandishing the revolver at the pilot, who attempted to draw his own and to put the aircraft down on the water. Threatened again by the Lieutenant, he levelled out the aircraft and submitted to capture. Meanwhile the English observer and Sergeant Brown trussed up the remaining Italians, and the South African took over the controls.

But the crew was now faced with the difficulty of flying a strange three-engined aircraft, besides being without maps or charts and having little knowledge of their geographical position. The Italian second-pilot was put in the pilot's seat and a rough course set for Malta. At length they recognised the toe of Italy, and although there was no way of gauging the amount of petrol left, they determined to try again for Malta. Finally the island was sighted, but the worst moment of the whole sortie came when three Spitfires attacked as the Cant flew in at sea level. Brown spun the guns about as the recognised signal to show the fighters that he was not going to fire, and the navigator waved his white singlet out of the cockpit, but the Spitfires still attacked, and when one of the wings was hit by cannon and machine-gun fire, the Italian second-pilot was ordered to come down on the sea. As the aircraft touched down the engines stopped for lack of petrol. Subsequently the party was towed into Malta, where the Cant aircraft was put to good use on air-sea rescue duties. The South African lieutenant felt in honour bound to supervise personally the Italians' comfort as the least return for their hospitality. The captured crew cheerfully accepted the situation, although they had in fact been proceeding on leave to the mainland, and one even produced from his suitcase a bottle of wine. It was with mixed feelings that the Royal Air Force crew later heard a Spitfire pilot claim in the Mess to have shot down an enemy float- plane.

THE TORPEDO-BOMBERS ATTACK | NZETC

Here's a great video of some guys in a CANT Z 506

YouTube - Cant Z.506








La Seconda Guerra Mondiale - I Trimotori



Comando Supremo: Photo Gallery

Some shots of a CANT Z 506 in a museum:





From this site

Cant Z.506 "Airone" Walkaround - page 1

[Waynos]

Thanks for that.

[Marcel]

For grand theft, well you probably all read my story here http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/sto...away-9922.html (One Fokker G.I got away)