Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE THROUGH WORLD WAR II
Generals Carl A. Spaatz and James H. Doolittle. Spaatz informed
Gen George S. Patton Jr. of his gunners’ poor aircraft
recognition and shooting skills. The 8th Fighter Command lost
seven fighters to Allied flak. US gunners admitted engaging 15
friendly aircraft and destroying 12, all of which the gunners
asserted were either committing a hostile act or flying in a restricted
zone. On the other hand, US gunners complained that
lack of identification restricted them from engaging one-third
of 6,000 targets. 88
Following the 26 June incident with the three US P-51s, the
9th Tactical Air Command restricted free-lance strafing within
10 miles of the bomb line; only prearranged missions were to
be flown in that area. The armies established restricted areas
that by 7 September 1944 constituted an almost continuous
belt from Antwerp, Belgium, to Nancy, France. British Bomber
Command protested that this restriction inhibited their operations,
and so the Allies limited the zones without satisfying either
party. 89
The problem of fratricide was, of course, not limited to the
Allies or to the European theater. All warring powers had the
problem—for example, the German fighter attack on Allied airfields
on 1 January 1945. The Germans admitted to losing 229
fighters in 1943 and 55 in the first half of 1944 over Germany
to their own flak. In the Pacific between December 1943 and
June 1944, the US Navy downed at least six of its own aircraft
and two or three AAF B-25s. 90 The worst case was probably at
the Cape Gloucester, Bismarck Archipelago, assault that began
on 26 December 1943. American naval antiaircraft fire downed
two B-25s and one P-47 and damaged two other B-25s. US
ground gunners also destroyed an American night fighter. Apparently,
naval gunners fired on “anything that was not a P-38,”
the readily identifiable twin-boom American fighter. The Marines
credit friendly antiaircraft fire with downing three of their aircraft
during the war. 91
The US Navy in the Pacific
The US Navy made strenuous efforts to defend its ships
against enemy aircraft. During World War II, it spent over $4
49