Author Topic: Guido Rossi's "phantom" P-38 (Read 4903 times)

Guppy35 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 16, 2005, 12:09:10 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ack-Ack
Whatever happened to him after the war? Was he put on trial for desertion and treason?

ack-ack

Interesting aftermath to it all.

Dan/CorkyJr

Martin Monti went absent without leave in Karachi October 1944, travelled to Naples- through Cairo and Tripoli. Stole a Photo Reconnaissance version of the P-38, and defected to the Germans in Milan. Worked for a propaganda broadcasting unit before joining the Waffen-SS. He surrendered to U.S. forces in Italy at the end of the war, still in full Waffen-SS uniform.

Served hard labour, and rejoined the U.S. Air Corps being discharged in 1948. picked up by the FBI, he served a further jail sentence for treason. Monti was paroled in 1960.

Grendel · « **Reply #16 on:** April 16, 2005, 03:31:08 AM »

That's just a story with no historical basis. It's been debunked by aviation historicians completely and totally. Nobody knows why Caidin invented something like that, making a sotry out of empty air.

Fact is, Italians DID have one P-38, and they still had it at war's end. It was grounded, not shot down.

Murdr · « **Reply #17 on:** April 16, 2005, 06:04:20 AM »

AH2 Ditch Model
Rossi intended to ram the bomber, but began breaking up and could not maintain flight. He was able to ditch in the water and survived.

Its crap. The story even has the P-38 shooting down US bombers before the date it was captured.

There is at least one occasion in which Lightnings served with Axis forces, joining the list of aircraft which served on both sides during World War II. The Regia Aeronautica managed to obtain an intact P-38G when it had been forced to land on Sardinia on July 12, 1943 due to navigation equipment problems during a flight from Gibraltar to Malta. The captured P-38G was repainted in Italian markings and was flown to the experimental center at Guidonia for evaluation. It was flown from there on August 11, 1943 by Col Angelo Tondi to intercept American bombers. Tondi is credited with possibly shooting down one B-24D Liberator. However, the Italian P-38G was grounded shortly thereafter because of a lack of spare parts.

BUG_EAF322 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 16, 2005, 07:56:18 AM »

He rejoined the US airforce again ??

Grendel · « **Reply #19 on:** April 16, 2005, 09:15:30 AM »

"There is at least one occasion in which Lightnings served with Axis forces, joining the list of aircraft which served on both sides during World War II. The Regia Aeronautica managed to obtain an intact P-38G when it had been forced to land on Sardinia on July 12, 1943 due to navigation equipment problems during a flight from Gibraltar to Malta. The captured P-38G was repainted in Italian markings and was flown to the experimental center at Guidonia for evaluation. It was flown from there on August 11, 1943 by Col Angelo Tondi to intercept American bombers. Tondi is credited with possibly shooting down one B-24D Liberator. However, the Italian P-38G was grounded shortly thereafter because of a lack of spare parts.

The Italians acquired additional Lightnings in a more orthodox manner six years later. When Italy joined NATO, the Aeronautica Militare Italiana received 50 Lightnings (P-38Js, P-38Ls, and F-5Es), which operated them until they were replaced by jets. "