The following report on Japanese use of captured U.S. aircraft for reconnaissance originally appeared in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 17, January 28, 1943. [DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

JAPANESE USE OF U.S. PLANES There is some evidence that the Japanese may be using captured U.S. planes with U.S. markings for reconnaissance purposes. On two distinct occasions an unidentified U.S. Navy PBY has been seen hovering around the edge of a U.S. Navy task force for a good part of the day. The Air Officer of a U.S. carrier believes this PBY may have been captured by the Japanese and is being used by them for reconnaissance. On an earlier occasion, a U.S. plane tried to identify the personnel of a PBY and reported that the personnel turned their faces away. Two other pilots reported that a PBY gave them the incorrect signal but showed the proper lights and a third pilot said that a PBY gave him the correct signal but showed the wrong lights. Bombing pilots reported similar incidents where a PBY circled for a long time before giving recognition signals.

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