Fighter pilots earn the coveted status of ace when they shoot down a minimum of five airplanes. The expectation, it goes without saying, is that the downed planes should be enemy airplanes. In World War II, however, one American fighter pilot became a double ace shot down an American plane. Not only was he not court martialled or punished for it, he was credited with the kill and awarded a medal. In an added twist, as seen below, the American plane he shot down contained his girlfriend.

An Unusual Victory Display

An Air Force Magazine article published in the August 1945 issue featured an odd photo. Above, US Army Air Forces fighter pilot Louis Edward Curdes can be seen in his North American P-51 Mustang. On the fuselage beneath his cockpit is a painted display of his victories. As was standard, for each victory there is a flag or emblem of the destroyed aircraft’s nationality. Curdes’ Mustang proudly displays swastikas for victories over German airplanes, a fascist roundel for a downed Italian plane, and a Rising Sun to mark a victory over a Japanese aircraft.

So far, there is little unusual about the display. What is quite unusual, however, is the presence of an American flag on the display. It indicates that one of the airplanes Curdes was credited with downing was American. The unusual pilot featured in the article was born in Indiana in 1919. When America was thrust into the Second World War, Curdes was in his junior year, studying engineering at Purdue. He dropped out of college to join the US Army Air Forces, and after he got his wings, was sent to the Mediterranean Theater in March, 1943.

Curdes’ Brief Captivity

Curdes was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force’s 95^th Fighter Squadron, 82^nd Fighter Group. He flew a P-38 Lightning, and on his first combat mission on April 29^th, 1943, he shot down three German Messerschmitt Bf 109s in Tunisia. Three weeks after that hat trick, Curdes became an ace when he shot down two more German Bf 109s over Sardinia. That June, he added an Italian fighter. On August 27^th, 1943, he downed two more Bf 109s, which brought his victory total to eight.

Immediately after his eighth kill, however, Curdes was shot down near Rome. Captured, the budding ace was thrown into an Italian prisoner of war camp. However, he was not destined to stay there for long. Less than two weeks after Curdes was shot down and taken prisoner by the Italians, Italy surrendered on September 8^th, 1943. Amidst the confusion and chaos that ensued, the Italian guards assigned to the POW camp fled, and he and his imprisoned comrades were free – kind of.

Eight Months on the Run, Dodging the Nazis

Angered by their ally’s betrayal, the Germans invaded Italy. Although no longer in a POW camp, Curdes was not anywhere close to Allied-controlled territory. He had to hide and evade recapture for eight months, before he finally reached friendly lines in May, 1944. Curdes was sent back home to Indiana on leave to recuperate, but he soon sought another combat tour. So he was sent to the Pacific Theater, where he joined the 4^th Fighter Squadron, 3^rd Air Commando, a P-51 Mustang outfit.

On February 7^th, 1945, Curdes shot down a Japanese reconnaissance airplane near Taiwan. That victory made him one of only three American fighter pilots who shot down German, Italian, and Japanese planes. Three days later, he led four P-51s in strafing some Japanese airfields in the Philippines. It was during that mission that Curdes spotted an American Douglas C-47 transport as it lowered its wheels and began a landing approach to a Japanese airfield. He tried to warn the C-47 over the radio, but was unable to do so.

Shooting Down the Girlfriend

Curdes flew in front of the American C-47 and maneuvered wildly to try and get its pilot’s attention. He got his attention, but the transport’s pilot did not understand what the madman in the P-51 wanted, and continued on. Curdes reasoned that the C-47’s occupants would be better off if he shot it down, than if they landed and were captured by the brutal Japanese. So lined up on the transport, opened fire, destroyed one of its two engines, then circled around, came back, and took out the other engine. That forced the pilot to abandon the ground landing, and ditch his airplane in the sea nearby. Luckily, nobody was killed, and the American transport’s occupants were successfully evacuated in a lifeboat.

The next day, Curdes was surprised to learn that the downed transport’s passengers included a nurse, Svetlana Valeria, whom he had recently started dating. As he put it: “Jeepers. Seven 109s and one Macchi in North Africa, one Jap and one Yank in the Pacific – and to top it, I have to go out and shoot down the girl friend”. He was officially credited with the American transport, which brought his WWII victory total to ten, and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for shooting down the C-7. After the war, Curdes got married, retired from the Air Force in 1963 as a lieutenant colonel, then started a construction company. He passed away in 1995, almost fifty years to the day from when he shot down the American C-47.

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Some Sources & Further Reading

Air Force Magazine, 1945-08: Volume 28, Issue 8 – A Yank for Good Measure

American Fighter Aces Association, Oral Interviews – Louis E. Curdes, April 13^th, 1991

History Halls – World War II Fighters: The North American P-51 Mustang Was Arguably WWII’s Best Fighter