[MT-ALES] The Story of "Bad Angel" at Pima Air & Space Museum . . . . . .

[CURTIS SUTER]

Another bit of WW II history that's mostly unknown...
The Story of “Bad Angel” at Pima Air & Space Museum

     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bad-Angel-01.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bad-Angel-01.jpg?iv=239>
        P-51 Mustang “Bad Angel” in Hangar #4,
                   Pima Air & Space Museum

Proudly displayed on the fuselage of “Bad Angel” were the markings of the pilot's kills:
seven Nazis; one Italian; one Japanese AND ONE AMERICAN.
“Bad Angel” shot down an American airplane?

     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Kill-Insignias-Close-01.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Kill-Insignias-Close-01.jpg?iv=239>
                Kill markings on “Bad Angel”

Was it a terrible mistake?  Couldn’t be.  If it had been an unfortunate misjudgment,
certainly the pilot would not have displayed the American flag.

There had to be a good story here.  One of the Museum’s many fine docents
are on hand to tell it as follows, below...

                               **********************

In 1942, the United States needed pilots for its war planes, lots of war planes; lots of pilots.
Lt. Louis Curdes was one.  When he was 22 years old, he graduated flight training school
and was shipped off to the Mediterranean to fight Nazis in the air over Southern Europe.
     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Curdes382.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Curdes382.jpg?iv=239>
       Lt. Louis Curdes

He arrived at his 82nd Fighter Group, 95th Fighter Squadron in April 1943 and was assigned
a P-38 Lightning.  Ten days later he shot down three German Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighters.

A few weeks later, he downed two more German Bf -109's.  In less than a month of combat,
Louis was an Ace.

During the next three months, Louis shot down an Italian Mc-202 fighter and two more
Messerschmitt’s before his luck ran out.  A German fighter shot down his plane on
August 27, 1943 over Salerno, Italy.

Captured by the Italians, he was sent to a POW camp near Rome.  No doubt this is where he
thought he would spend the remaining years of the war.  It wasn't to be.  A few days later,
the Italians surrendered.  Louis and a few other pilots escaped before the Nazis could take
control of the camp.

One might think that such harrowing experiences would have taken the fight out of Louis,
yet he volunteered for another combat tour.  This time, Uncle Sam sent him to the Philippines
where he flew P-51 Mustangs.

Soon after arriving in the Pacific Theater, Louis downed a Mitsubishi reconnaissance plane
near Taiwan.  Now he was one of only three Americans to have kills against all three Axis Powers:
Germany, Italy, and Japan.

     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Curtis-in-Bad-Angel.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Curtis-in-Bad-Angel.jpg?iv=239>
Pilot Lt. Louis Curdes in his P-51 Mustang “Bad Angel”

Up until this point, young Lt. Curdes’ combat career had been stellar.  His story was about to take
a twist so bizarre that it seems like the fictional creation of a Hollywood screenwriter.

While attacking the Japanese-held island of Batan, one of Louis wingmen was shot down.
The pilot ditched in the ocean.  Circling overhead, Louis could see that his wingman had survived,
so he stayed in the area to guide a rescue plane and protect the downed pilot.

It wasn’t long before he noticed another, larger airplane, wheels down, preparing to land at the
Japanese-held airfield on Batan.  He moved in to investigate.  Much to his surprise the approaching
plane was a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport with American markings.

He tried to make radio contact, but without success.  He maneuvered his Mustang in front of the
big transport several times trying to wave it off.  The C-47 kept to its landing target.

Lt. Curdes read the daily newspaper accounts of the war, including the viciousness of the Japanese
soldiers toward their captives.  He knew that whoever was in that American C-47 would be, upon
landing, either dead or wish they were.  But what could he do?

Audaciously, he lined up his P-51 directly behind the transport, carefully sighted one of his .50 caliber
machine guns and knocked out one of its two engines.  Still the C-47 continued on toward the Batan
airfield.  Curdes shifted his aim slightly and knocked out the remaining engine, leaving the baffled
pilot no choice but to ditch in the ocean.

     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Machine-Gun.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Machine-Gun.jpg?iv=239>
One of “Bad Angel’s” .50 caliber machine guns built into it wings.

The big plane came down in one piece about 50 yards from his bobbing wingman.
At this point, nightfall and low fuel forced Louis to return to base.

The next morning, Louis flew cover for a rescuing PBY Catalina Flying Boat that picked
up the downed Mustang pilot and 12 passengers and crew, including two female nurses,
from the C-47; all survived.

     [http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ammunition-Cal-50.jpg?iv=239] <http://maxcdn.devildogproducti.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ammunition-Cal-50.jpg?iv=239>
.50 caliber ammo for P-51 Mustangs

For shooting down an unarmed American transport plane, Lt. Louis Curdes was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross.  Thereafter, on the fuselage of his P-51 “Bad Angel,” he proudly
displayed the symbols of his kills:  seven German, one Italian, one Japanese and one American flag.

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