World War II Air Campaign: Morality--Fighter Pilots


Figure 1.--

The major moral concern regarding the World War II air war involves the bombing of cities which even if specific targets were ibvolved, inevitably involved civilian casualties. This was not, however, the only moral issue associated with the air war. One of these issues involved fighter pilots and the shooting of pilots and other air crews that had bailed out of damaged planes. Or bailed out air crews in the water. This is a topic that we have just begun to assess and our information is still limited. As with the bombing issue, it is not a simple matter. Shooting a pilot who has bailed out sounds like a simple moral issue, it was not, it was also a matter of military importance, at least when the pilot was going to land in areas held by friendly forces. The Battle of Britain is the best example. The British had no shortage of planes to fight the Luftwaffe. They did have a shortage of trained pilots. Thus allowing a pilot to survive aided the British war effort at a critical point in the War. Shooting at bomber crews is also complicated. It is not difficult to see that German pilots seeing the bombed out cities and civilian casuakties could in the heat of combat be less han charitable toward the bomber crews. We do not know what the standing orders were for the different air forces.

Moral Issue

The major moral concern regarding the World War II air war involves the bombing of cities which even if specific targets were ibvolved, inevitably involved civilian casualties. This was not, however, the only moral issue associated with the air war. One of these issues involved fighter pilots and the shooting of pilots and other air crews that had bailed out of damaged planes. Or bailed out air crews in the water. This is a topic that we have just begun to assess and our information is still limited.

Military Issue

As with the bombing issue, it is not a simple matter. Shooting a pilot who has bailed out sounds like a simple moral issue, it was not, it was also a matter of military importance, at least when the pilot was going to land in areas held by friendly forces. The Battle of Britain is the best example. The British had no shortage of planes to fight the Luftwaffe. They did have a shortage of trained pilots. Thus allowing a pilot to survive aided the British war effort at a critical point in the War. Shooting at bailed out bomber crews is also complicated. It is not difficult to see that German pilots seeing the bombed out cities and civilian casuakties could in the heat of combat be less than charitable toward the bomber crews destroying cities.

Standing Orders

We do not know what the standing orders were for the different air forces. A reader writes, "You will probably never find any proof that it was a military policy in any airforce. It happened in both Workd War I and World War II. But I never read about any punishments for a pilot by his own superiors who did so." Luftwaffe pilots after the War claimed that they were forbidden to fire on pilots who bailed out. We are not sure if his was the case in The East or just the West. We are not sure about the RAF or American Army Air Corps. We believe it was left o the disgression of individual pilots. We do know that many pilots considered firing on defensless man in a parachute as heinous act. This was the case in the Allied air forces and was shared by many, but not all Luftwaffe pilots. This was different in the Pacufuic. The Japanese commonly shot at downed pilots, but we have no information on their standing orders. We do not know of any pilots procecuted for shooting at downed pilots or for that matter failing to do so.

Country Trends

Most World War II fighter pilots had a strong code of conduct concerning their battles. Once a pilor or aircrews bailed off they were off limits. That is not to say that it such attacks never existed, but if they did, the action would have been frowned on by their fellow pilots in most air forces as a dishonorable act. There were some differences among the various World War II combatants. Our general impression is that shooting on pilots who bailed out was most common with Japanese pilots. There are many accounts from American flyers of such incidnts. Among European air forces, it seems most common with the Luftwaff, but not standard contact. very most common among this practice was most common with he Luftwaffe. We know that Hitler demanded thatU-boat captains not assist surviving crews. Some U-boat captains actually shot at the survivors after the ship sank. Others attempted to assist. As far as we know, the pilot issue was not addressed by Hitler and this an internal Luftwaffe matter. We believe that the more throughly NAZIfied pilots were the most likely to go after downed pilots. We have no informtion at this time on the Soviets and Italians.

Americans

As far as we know American pilots abided by this a code of conduct that prohibited firing in enemy pilots and air crews once they bailed out. Some American pilots were incensed when German pilots went after their comrads and would go after German pilots with a vengence that did so.

British

RAF pilots also abided by this a code of conduct that prohibited firing in enemy pilots and air crews once thy bailed out. The cloest the British came to this was attacking Red Cross planes trying to rescue air crews that went down in the Channel. They were called air ambulances. As far as we know the airmen themselves were not attacked, but their rescuers were.

Germans

The Germans for their part seem to have had the same code of conduct. At least important German pilots after the War say they did. Hollywood not wuithstanding, this seems to be case. That is not to say that such incidents did not occur. It s likeky that fervebt NAZI ere involved in such attacks. And of course, German pilots could not have unaffcted by the impossible job of defending the cities of the Reich anbd terrible destruction being wreaked. This was especially the case in 1944-45 when the Luftwaffe was sending up young pilots with virtually no flight training. One dramatic incident between pilots emerged years after the War. American Air Corps Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown flew a B-17 on a bombing run targetting a Focke-Wulf aircraft production facility in Bremen (December 21, 1943). The bombing run was uneventful, bur Brown's plane was badly damaged on the return flight. Half his crew was dead ior dieing. The plane was riddled with holes and virtually torn apart, but still flyable. It is at this time Brown spotted a ME-109 on his tail. It was flown by Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler. Brown assumed he was about to receive the coup d'grace Stigler was a veteran Luftwaffe pilot. What followed, however, was one of the stangest incidents in the air war and only reveraled years later. Stigler did not fire on Brown's crippled B-17. It would have been an easy kill, but he rembered the instructions received as a young pilot from his commanding officers in Jagdgeschwader 27, Gustav Rödel, in North Africa. “You are fighter pilots first, last, always. If I ever hear of any of you shooting at someone in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself." Stigler years latter explained his refusal to fire on the crippled Anerican plane. "To me, it was just like they were in a parachute. I saw them and I couldn't shoot them down." Stigler tried to convince Brown to land his plane at a German air base and surrender. Brown refused to do so and ciontinuing flying on, convinced that Stigler would then open up on his plane. Stigler did not. He actually flew near Brown's plane, escorting itto the North Sea. He departed with asmart military salute. Brown was ordered not to tell ayone what happened. Stigler was not punished for his decesion. [Makos]

Italians

We have no information on the Italians. The Italians, hoever, did not have many effective World War II aircraft and did not have many opportunities do so.

Japanese

The one country which stands out was Japan. Japanbese pilots appear to have had few scruples about attacking airmen who bailed out, both in the air and in the water. The fierness of the Japanese pilots to go after downed airmen was a factor in the disaster at Midway. It weakened their ability to maintain the critically important combat air patrol over the carriers (CAP). One American pilot describes the experience of a suadron mate in the South Pacific. "As Tex floated in the sea, two things suddenly surfaced alongside him, freed from the Devestator [his shot down aircraft] as it took its plunge toward the bottom of the Pacific. One of them was provedential. It as the aircraft's deflared life raft. He remenmbered Bob Huntington placing it in he middle seat before they took off. Apparaently, it had not been strapped down. The oher object floaing in he water was a black rubber swat cushion. The Skipper had always told them that if they were ever in a tight spot to never throw anything away. Tex decided to hold on to the cushion, too. His burned leg was begunning to hurt when he heard a plane diving and looked up to see a Zero heading straight toward him with its machine guns blazing. The surface of the sea begun erupting in tiny geysers of water." [Mrazek] And any flyers who fell into Japanese hands e routinely killed. On might think that this ferocity made he Japanese a particularly deadly opponent. Actualy in reduced the combat effectiveness of Japanese air operations. Positioning and shooting at enemy flyers ho bailed out or were bobing in the ocean bith exhaused their limited amunition supply and exposed them to attack by enny fighters. Th most obvious ngative impact is th impact on carrier combat air patrol (CAP). The most obvious Japanese failure at Midway was the absence iof the CAP when the Enterprise and Yorktown dive bombers appeared over the First Air Fleet. One of the reasons for this was that the Zero pilots assigned to the Japanese carrier CAP were wave hopping looking for surviving air crews they could fire on among the debris of American Devestator torpedo planes that they had just shot down.

Soviets

We have no information on the Red Airforce. A reader writes, "I have read that during the Korean War Soviet pilots shot down while flying for North Korea, if they were over water and might be captured by Americans were shot after parachuting."

Sources

Makos, Adam with Larry Aklexander. A Higher Call: An IncredibleTrue Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War Torn Skies of World War II (2013).

Mrazek, Robert J. A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight.







CIH -- WW II







Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to WotldWar II tactical air: Moral issues]
[Return to Main World War II moral asessment of aerial campaign page]
[About Us]
[Introduction] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Climatology] [Clothing] [Disease and Health] [Economics] [Freedom] [Geography] [History] [Human Nature] [Ideology] [Law]
[Nationalism] [Presidents] [Religion] [Royalty] [Science] [Social Class]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Children in History Home]





Created: 10:37 PM 2/11/2013
Last updated: 6:52 PM 1/20/2019