Hello all this might seem like a silly question, but I wanted to confirm a story I heard back in the day via an image post. I’ve lost the screen cap, but paraphrasing the story went as such:
A group of pilots during a long stay conflict over an area (I think they were guarding bomber runs?) would run into the same group of enemy pilots. The story said that they would talk/ taunt the enemy over the radio and would get it the same back and forth. Apparently, it got so bad that they had to send someone to monitor the radio on the runs to make sure their pilots weren’t doing this, which led to the pilots communicating through hand gestures.
Now, obviously this story is not only vague, but also from the internet so it is most likely fake or the details are blown out of proportion (though if anyone knows the story and could confirm or deny it that would be cool.). What I will ask though is if there have been cases of pilots communicating with the enemy during combat. I read when short wave radio was still being introduced into planes it was possible to intercept and talk over channels, which was used to give bad info or scramble messages. So it would be interesting if anyone knew of stories, old or new, where pilots talked to each other while in combat.
I look forward to your responses, though in all likelihood the answer is no. Thanks everyone!
While I can't think of an incident exactly like that, there is one I can think of from the Pacific War at the Battle of Midway. The source I'm relying on here is John Lundstrom's excellent history The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway, and it describes an incident around 13:00 to 13:50 on June 4th, in between the two strikes made by Hiryū on Yorktown. Radio communications between the US carriers and their fighter patrols could be eavesdropped on at this stage in the war (alas I'm not to sure about the technical reasons behind that). Regardless, radio chatter began to indicate that Blue patrol (VF-8 fighters off of Hornet) were running low on fuel, and an unknown Japanese sailor or airman piped in on the US fighter control frequency (apparently with quite good pronunciation, and with the proper jargon):
"All Blue patrols return for juice!"
This was an order for all VF-8 fighters airborne to return to Hornet for refueling. However, Lieutenant Commander Leonard J. "Ham" Dow, the Fighter Direction Officer for Task Force 16 on board Enterprise heard that Japanese interruption, and quickly replied:
"The bastards are using deception! Beware!"
Recognising the voice of their fighter director, the US fighters did not leave their stations and there were no further incidents of attempts by English speaking Japanese to subvert American radio traffic during the battle. However, it did underscore the vulnerability of US fighter control radio communications, and stress the need for equipment that would ensure no further Japanese eavesdroppers or interlopers on American radio frequencies.
While not necessarily similar to your story, this little anecdote is a fun reminder that events like this did happen. While it seems this particular action was likely the result of an enterprising Japanese sailor or airman taking advantage of a lucky break and his own command of English and American fighter control terminology to try something, rather than an part of IJN doctrine, it is still an interesting story to tell. I can't be sure if there were other incidents like this that may have gone unrecorded, but it was certainly possible for two sides to end up communicating over radio!