The following post presents some photos of examples of P-38 Lightning captured by the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe during WW2. All photos can be viewed using the link:
http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/p-38-lightning-capturados.html
Hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting!
Just out of curiosity, how were planes “captured”? Was it due to pilots landing at Axis airfields? Did the Germans go to crash sites, capture the downed planes, and rebuild them?
It could be any number of reasons. Sometimes engine problems forced them to land where ever they could. Other times planes were pieced together from several crashed planes. There have also been times when planes had to surrender or be shot down; they lowered landing gear and followed planes to enemy airfields.
In some areas, planes were captured on the ground as the front lines moved.
One F-5 was stolen by a USAAF Lt. and flown to Germany where he wanted to join the Germans. After the war, he spent 20 years in a Federal prison.
The Regia one was captured by the German Army in Sardinia after being landed and abandoned on Sardinia with navigation system failure.
That German one I do not know but I would suspect it was a shoot down.