captured aircraft were sometimes flown without
> changing their markings, and one such provided one of the few
> effective combat missions of the YB-40 (the 'assault' version of the
> B-17, with a second upper turret, doubled waist guns, and a chin
> turret that later became standard equipment in the B-17). An Italian
> pilot was using a captured P-38 to shoot down damaged US bombers on
> their way back to bases in North Africa; he would listen to radio
> traffic, and fly out to a damaged bomber to 'escort' it home. With a
> friendly fighter escorting them, the bomber crew would relax, allowing
> him to press home his attack and shoot down the plane quickly. After a
> survivor of one of these attacks was recovered, a YB-40 was added to a
> bomber group, and turned back with radio traffic suggesting it had
> engine trouble. The Italian pilot showed up in his P-38, and knowing
> that no P-38s were operating that day, the gunners in the YB-40
> allowed him to close in to size up his target before blowing him out
> of the sky -- essentially, doing to him what he had been doing to
> them.