WW2 aircrew carried newspaper to prove date of mission

[Skeptic]

I've heard a few times that WW2 aircrew carried the latest copy of a newspaper on their missions, to prove that they had left on a particular date if they were captured. Apparently this was to show they were not spies. It seems a bit silly, as a spy could have got hold of a paper also.

[Mycroft]

I doubt this story is true, I have never heard of it (and I am certain that some aspect of this would have appeared in war films). In general if you are in uniform near a crashed aircraft they would not think that you had been there for a long time and were pretending to be from the plane when captured. RAF flight jackets did not have a pocket for a newspaper and extra quantities of flammable material would not be welcome in an aircraft. On another note (and The Great Escape being an exception) escaping / evading aircrew in civilian clothing were not considered as spies when captured and were returned to POW camps (usually a different camp; and the most persistant escapers ending up at Colditz)

[Mateus]

I would think the newspapers were there to alleviate the "boring" parts of the many-hour flight, when you aren't getting shot at.

[Meka]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

I doubt this story is true, I have never heard of it (and I am certain that some aspect of this would have appeared in war films). In general if you are in uniform near a crashed aircraft they would not think that you had been there for a long time and were pretending to be from the plane when captured. RAF flight jackets did not have a pocket for a newspaper and extra quantities of flammable material would not be welcome in an aircraft. On another note (and The Great Escape being an exception) escaping / evading aircrew in civilian clothing were not considered as spies when captured and were returned to POW camps (usually a different camp; and the most persistant escapers ending up at Colditz)

Seconded. A member of an Allied aircrew in uniform would be treated as such (Hitler's "Night and Fog" orders notwithstanding) and no further proof of his claim to POW status would be required.

If the crewman had managed to obtain civilian clothes:
(1) Carrying an English language newspaper would defeat the purpose of the disguise; and
(2) The crewman's dog tags/identity discs would be easier to conceal and far more likely to be accepted as proof of identity.

So while some crewmen may have been shot down with English or American newspapers on them (I believe some waist gunners, for example, used newsprint as extra insulation against the cold) it's doubtful they were used as proof of identity, especially not when a crewman could have just shown his dog tags.

[Dark Blue]

A member of an Allied aircrew in uniform

That to me would be the dead give away that they are not spies. Unless the Germans had already come across so really really dumb spies.

"Damn I got caught again, how do they keep figuring out I'm an American spy? Well I might as well keep polishing my US insignia untill I figure out how to get out of here."

[Roadsterboy]

More to the point, where would one get a daily newspaper in, say, the ETO, anyway? Was Stars And Stripes published and delivered before a dawn raid every day? What about someplace like Guadalcanal early in the war, or one of the more remote Pacific forward bases? Or onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise? Was the military going to waste time and fuel flying bundles of newspapers out, just so aircrew can carry them on a mission?

-RB

[Troberg]

More to the point, where would one get a daily newspaper in, say, the ETO, anyway? Was Stars And Stripes published and delivered before a dawn raid every day? What about someplace like Guadalcanal early in the war, or one of the more remote Pacific forward bases? Or onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise? Was the military going to waste time and fuel flying bundles of newspapers out, just so aircrew can carry them on a mission?

I think it's a fair assumption that they didn't fly special missions to deliver newspapers, but I also think that it's a fair assumption that newspapers were brought on the regular supply missions as a way to improve morale. There's always some spare space where you can stack a bundle of newspapers.

[Zachary Fizz]

Originally Posted by Mateus

I would think the newspapers were there to alleviate the "boring" parts of the many-hour flight, when you aren't getting shot at.

In the European theatre, for much of the war allied airmen would have been within theoretical range of German fighters from the moment they took off. Notwithstanding the air superiority enjoyed by the allies towards the end of the war, I suspect it would have been strange, and unpopular, for any aircrew to read the paper instead of looking out for enemy fighters.

Perhaps things were different in the Pacific theatre, though I find it hard to imagine many allied aircrew really being mistaken for spies in Japan.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Zachary Fizz

In the European theatre, for much of the war allied airmen would have been within theoretical range of German fighters from the moment they took off. Notwithstanding the air superiority enjoyed by the allies towards the end of the war, I suspect it would have been strange, and unpopular, for any aircrew to read the paper instead of looking out for enemy fighters.

There would have been very little light to read by anyway. Up front the pilot's night vision had to be maintained, not to mention the stupidity of lighting your aircraft up like a christmas tree for every luftwaffe fighter ace to see - so moonlight and a very dim glow from the nav table would have been about it. The shattering cold, enormous gloves, mission stress and the compressed typeface of the day meant that the editorials would have to wait until after debrief.

[gopher]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

There would have been very little light to read by anyway. Up front the pilot's night vision had to be maintained, not to mention the stupidity of lighting your aircraft up like a christmas tree for every luftwaffe fighter ace to see - so moonlight and a very dim glow from the nav table would have been about it. The shattering cold, enormous gloves, mission stress and the compressed typeface of the day meant that the editorials would have to wait until after debrief.

Though the USAAC/USAAF flew mainly during the day in Europe at least.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by gopher

Though the USAAC/USAAF flew mainly during the day in Europe at least.

Oh aye, hush you

I had a head full of Wellingtons and Halifaxs flying in the deepest night, although operations, as you adroitly point out, were round the clock.

[Brad from Georgia]

Maybe it was for use with the Elsan. I understand RAF toilet paper was not of the highest quality.

[Ali Infree]

Brad from Georgia sez: Maybe it was for use with the Elsan. I understand RAF toilet paper was not of the highest quality.

But freshness is very important! Exit stage left:



Ali "give me the funny papers" Infree

[Skeptic]

I'm sorry, but everyone seems to be missing the original point I made, that this was prove that they had left on a particular date if they were captured, rather than being taken for spies who had been there for weeks or months pretending to be shot down aircrew.

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

I'm sorry, but everyone seems to be missing the original point I made, that this was prove that they had left on a particular date if they were captured, rather than being taken for spies who had been there for weeks or months pretending to be shot down aircrew.

But why would spies pretend to be a shot down air crew? Usually spies pretent to be residents on the nation on which they are spying. As air crews are usually uniformed, it'd be pretty stupid to throw on a uniform and rush the the scene of a downed aircraft.

An aircrew would keep their uniforms on as they tried to evade capture. Spies don't wear uniforms.

And the newspaper would not prove that they weren't recently arrived spies.

[DrRocket]

Yep. Doesn't make sense. If a "spy" is wearing a uniform, he is begging to be caught.

If a spy knows someone's after him, he's going to get the NFSBSK out of there, not waste time putting on some uniform, and grabbing a daily.

I say this is a legend, and not fact. I've done quite a bit of reading and research on WW2 aviation. It's a hobby I've pursued for 40 years, and I've NEVER heard of this.

[Meka]

Originally Posted by DemonWolf

But why would spies pretend to be a shot down air crew? Usually spies pretent to be residents on the nation on which they are spying.

Agreed. A spy "disguised" as a downed pilot would be of little use as an information gatherer; what good is an agent who can't go anywhere populated without being immediately detained? Yes, there were OSS/SOE Jedburgh teams who parachuted into occupied territory in uniform, but these weren't so much spies as they were commandos, dropped in to train and lead the Resistance.

I also fail to see why proving the date on which a crewman bailed out would even matter. If a pilot's uniform and dog tags didn't convince the Germans that he wasn't a spy, then all the newspaper proves is that he's a dumb spy who got caught quickly. And it's not like they didn't execute dumb spies along with the smart ones...

Last point. Warring nations wouldn't want to disguise their spies as downed pilots for this very reason - they'd want to ensure that real downed pilots were treated properly.

Originally Posted by DrRocket

Yep. Doesn't make sense. If a "spy" is wearing a uniform, he is begging to be caught.

If a spy knows someone's after him, he's going to get the NFSBSK out of there, not waste time putting on some uniform, and grabbing a daily.

I say this is a legend, and not fact. I've done quite a bit of reading and research on WW2 aviation. It's a hobby I've pursued for 40 years, and I've NEVER heard of this.

I'd have to agree with this. I've pursued World War 2 as a hobby for pretty much my entire life, and this simply makes no sense when compared to the verified spy stories I have heard. Walking down Alexander Strasse in an Army Airmans uniform would not exactly go un-noticed, or be surrounded by a crowd of Germans screaming spion or saboteurin just because you weren't carrying the latest editions of the New York and London Times tucked under each arm.

What's even more important, is that spy is not a term you could just throw around whenever you wanted to. A man in a uniform was by definition not a spy, he was a man in the legal uniform of a warring power and entitled to certain treatment as a prisoner of war. Now the Germans never felt terribly obligated to extend to the Russians, and the Japanese definition of their obligation was questionable on a moral and legal level, but a spy in uniform is an oxymoron. If a man is wearing a military uniform when he is captured, unless he is captured involved in a mission of sabotage, then no one would classify him as a spy. Not even the British Commandos were classified as spies when captured, and a good argument could have been made in their case.