I would have to look and see, but I think you are right about Down and Go. They suspected it was sabotage. They trusted almost no one, but especially Soviet agents.
It would be interesting to follow up with the planes that the Soviets captured at Rechlin. Perhaps someday we will know with things opening up a bit more.
There was no shortage of some parts in the crashed aircraft rebuild program for the Luftwaffe. But other parts were either very rare, or non-existent. The Marauder props were a good example of a rare item.
The American and other allied groups were looking to get all of the technology out of the Germans they could get their hands on, including their scientists (Operation Paperclip). I find it interesting that there was alot of propaganda how the Germans had outdated aircraft with unskilled pilots at the end. If that were true, then why were they so interested in getting their hands on all these wonder toys?! It seems there was more interest in German than Japanese technology. Then again, the Japanese had alot of German technology transferred to them.
It really is amazing how much scrap metal came out of the salvage units. They were turned into all kinds of things, including the fighters you mentioned.
I thought it was an interesting piece of history when I first read about it and wanted to do a presentation about it. I had the luxury of creating the schedule for the year, so I threw it in. I want to get more stories that are lesser known. I will be talking about the Doolittle raid next month, which is fine, but who hasn't heard about that?
Thanks for the feedback!