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In the days before the advent of the IFF system, pilots could only visually identify friend or foe. However, many aircraft had similar appearances, and the air combat environment was complex, pilots were nervous, and various misfires were common. Today's story is about a misfire incident involving the British Royal Air Force in the early days of World War II.

▲The Spitfire and Hurricane fighter jets of the Royal Air Force, which were the protagonists of today's accidental shooting accident.

On September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and World War II officially broke out. The 74th Squadron of the Royal Air Force stationed in East London soon received a notification of the outbreak of war, and the pilots and ground crews hurriedly filled sandbags and piled them around important facilities while cursing.

At that time, most of the Royal Air Force pilots had lived in peace for a long time and few of them had been to the battlefield. They seemed a little nervous about the sudden war: on the second day, the squadron was in chaos due to a false alarm. Although it was later discovered that it was a false alarm, the pilots still sat outdoors, anxiously waiting for the so-called German bombers.

In this tense atmosphere, it is easy for accidents to happen. Here are some of the protagonists of the story. John Freeborn joined the army in 1937 and was assigned to the 74th Squadron in October of the following year.

▲Freeborn standing on his Spitfire.

On February 13, 1939, the 74th Squadron received its first Spitfire fighter. Freeborn recalled: "I had never flown a monoplane before, and the Spitfire was slender, but it was also a powerful killing machine." He quickly mastered the flying skills of the Spitfire.

At 6:45 in the morning on September 6, 1939, the British coastal radar station discovered that an aircraft was approaching Essex in southeast England, and immediately guided the 74th Squadron to take off and intercept.

No. 74 Squadron sent two three-plane formations to take off, with the Red Squadron led by Lieutenant Adolf Malan, a South African, and the Yellow Squadron led by Lieutenant Vincent Paddy, with Freeborn as his wingman.

Guided by radar, the two teams flew through the clouds and approached the coast of Essex at high altitude. The pilots searched every corner of the sky, fearing that they would let a German bomber into British airspace.

▲Group photo of pilots from the 74th Squadron. The one in the red circle is Lieutenant Malan and the one in the white circle is Freeborn.

At this time, Lieutenant Ma Lan's voice suddenly came from the headset: "Enemy planes spotted!" The other pilots followed Lieutenant Ma Lan's instructions and saw a flight formation of more than a dozen fighter planes in front of them. Such a large formation must be escorting the German bombers.

The adrenaline of the pilots of the 74th Squadron surged, and the six pilots immediately rushed to the target. In fact, these planes were "Hurricane" fighters of the 56th Squadron of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the war, the British pilots and radar operators lacked war experience and did not discover this huge mistake.

The six planes approached quickly from behind and above, taking turns to shoot. Freeborn had good shooting skills, and his eight 7.7mm machine guns quickly tore apart an "enemy plane". He recalled:

"Another pilot, Flinders, was also extremely excited and almost crazy. He flew in front of me and I almost shot him by mistake. I shouted to Flinders: 'Don't block the road, either open fire quickly or get out of the way and let me do it!'"

▲Hurricane fighter jet of the 56th Squadron.

It was later found that Lieutenant Paddy, the leader of the Yellow Squadron, shot down the Hurricane piloted by Frank Ross of the 56th Squadron, and he abandoned the plane and parachuted to escape. Freeborn shot down Ross's wingman, and the pilot Harrop was killed. The mistake was soon discovered, and the six pilots were immediately arrested when they landed excitedly.

On October 17, 1939, the military court heard the accidental attack. In court, Lieutenant Malan, who gave the order to attack, claimed: "I did give the order to attack, but soon I realized the mistake and ordered to stop the attack." However, Lieutenant Paddy and Freeborn insisted that they did not hear the order.

However, the radar station also had to bear some responsibility. There was no German invasion at that time, and it was very likely that the wrong target was identified, resulting in the transmission of wrong information. The controller should not have allowed the two squadrons to appear in the same airspace without coordination.

After a half-day trial, the court ruled that Lieutenant Paddy and Freeborn were not guilty, and Lieutenant Malan continued to stay in the 74th Squadron, but the relationship between them became delicate.

▲In the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire was responsible for holding back the German escort fighters, and the Hurricane was responsible for attacking bombers. In this accident, the Spitfire mistook the Hurricane for a German plane.

After this incident, Freeborn became calmer and more composed in air combat. He soon became one of the most outstanding pilots in the squadron and became the leader of the formation. Lieutenant Malan, the instigator of the accidental shooting incident, also had good skills and later became the squadron leader. Although the two had some grudges, they maintained respect for each other for the common mission.

The lesson of this accident is profound. In order to avoid similar accidents from happening again, the Royal Air Force strengthened the pilots' ability to identify friendly or enemy aircraft, and strengthened the training of controllers, plotters and radar operators, and installed the IFF friend-or-foe identification signal system on the aircraft.