Star-spangled weirdos!

[Stargazer]

I've been collecting these for quite a while now: aircraft that were not part of the U.S. Armed Forces' roster yet donned American colors — often for evaluation, be they contenders for an ongoing program,war prizes or secretly transfered aircraft.

So I'm going to share a few in this topic, and of course you can add to it if you will!

First of the lot: a Yakovlev Yak-9P evaluated at Freeman AFB after the war as T2-3002.

 

[Stargazer]

Another oddity is this sole Yak-18 "Max" which was evaluated in 1955 and given the totally non-standard designation T-10G (and fake serial to boot), supposedly to conceal its real identity. Note that it carries "U.S. Army" on its flanks.

 

[Antonio]

Very interesting Stargazer, thanks for sharing it.

 

[Stargazer]

One of my all-time favorite aircraft, the Mitsubishi Ki-83 "Steve", was captured by the US but doesn't seem to appear on Freeman AFB and Technical Air Intelligence listings. Can't even see any distinctive markings on any of the photos, which makes it even weirder. Does anyone know why?

 

[Stargazer]

As part of a secret technology exchange with Britain, the USAAF temporarily traded a Bell P-59 Airacomet with a Gloster Meteor F.1.
More on this story here: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6088.msg114235.html#msg114235

 

[Stargazer]

How did that Mil Mi-4 "Hound" end up on the U.S. Army's roster, I don't know... but it was apparently the only one of its type to enter the U.S. territory.
Don't know if "20422" was invented by the Army or was a modification of its original SSSR- number...

 

[RAP]

I recall somewhere seeing this helicopter was from an East German movie and was suppose to depict a US Army helicopter.