Widfeldt, Bo and Rolph Wegmann. Making for Sweden, part two: The United States Army Air Force. Walton-on-Thames, Surrey: Air Research Publications, 1998

ISBN 1-871187-37-0
311 pages

Foreword; Acknowledgements; photos; Sources and References.

Appendices: USAAF airmen arriving in Sweden 1940-1945; Graves Registry by Cemetery

   The first volume of this charming and off-the-beaten-track pair of books was published at the end of 1997 and reviewed here quite favorably last year. It contained details of all the RAF aircraft and flyers who came down in Sweden during the war. This second volume continues the story with thumbnail sketches of every U.S. Army Air Force incident involving a landing or crash in Sweden or Swedish waters.
   While the authors described 275 British incidents, the USAAF provides 267 case studies -- ranging from single-seat fighters to four-engine bombers to an unusual Mosquito in American markings -- involving over 1400 American airmen from 24 July 1943 to 21 April 1945.
   Arranged chronologically, each case gives date, aircraft type and mark, serial number and markings (where known), squadron, group, and air station. Each crew member is then listed with rank, name, crew position, and fate. Then follows a full description of the incident with text running from a single paragraph to several pages.

Case 152:
21 June 1944
B-17G, 42-38135
USAAF 385BG, 549BS (Great Ashfield, Stn 155)

Crew:
2/Lt	M.F. Lohmeyer	P	KIA
2/Lt	W.H. Coulthard	CP	INT
2/Lt	L.W. Pease	N	INT
2/Lt	R.S. Tiffany Jr	B	INT
T/Sgt	T.C. Greene	TTG	INT
T/Sgt	J.H. Spencer	RO	KIA
S/Sgt	J.B. Fagan Jr	BTG	INT
T/Sgt	H.E. Phillips	TG	INT
S/Sgt	R.M. Cummings	RWG	INT
S/Sgt	M.E. Puckett	LWG	KIA

Aircraft 42-38135 was last seen at 1045 hours fifteen miles inside the German coast on the route back near Rendsburg (5357N-0940E). It was under control but unable to keep up with the formation and was continually dropping behind until it went out of sight. No parachutes were seen in the vicinity. (*MACR 5920).
   Lieutenant Lohmeyer crossed the Swedish coast at Kivarp but was followed by a German Me 410. The German fighter made four attacks on the aircraft even though he was two and a half kilometres into Swedish territory. The United States bomber fired back on the German fighter, identified by the crew as a Ju 88.
   During the attack Technical Sergeant Spencer was killed. Three more crew members, Staff Sergeants Puckett and Cummings and Technical Sergeant Phillips, were injured. The aircraft went out of control and the tail started to burn. Earlier one engine had been hit by Flak and a second engine had a mechanical failure.
   The crew was ordered to bail out. Second Lieutenant Lohmeyer tried to help Staff Sergeant Puckett get his parachute on, but he never managed to open it as his right hand was injured. Lieutenant Lohmeyer was killed after he baled out too low. His 'chute failed to open in time. The aircraft crashed at 1050 hours (LT) at Dorrod. The seven remaining crew members all reached the ground safely, but two had to be taken to hospital in Malmo and Ystad to be treated for their wounds. (*Fst DR 21/6 1944).
   On 3rd July the three dead crew members were buried at Malmo. The other seven were allowed to return to England within a five month period. The aircraft was scrapped.

   Other sections of the book cover American courier flights (for repatriating American flyers, retrieving US aircraft, transporting Norwegian refugees to and from England for military training, and transporting goods such as ball bearings and salvaged V-2 missile components), a complete list of all American airmen who arrived in Sweden, and terms and conditions of internment.

   According to the formal Swedish declaration of strict neutrality given in 1939, all aircraft and personnel landing in Sweden should be interned until the war ended. However it soon became evident that by formal and informal arrangements between the different parties (German and Allied) it was possible to release interned crew members on a 'head for head' basis. When a Luftwaffe aircraft carrying a crew of four had landed the Germans were permitted to leave Sweden immediately (without formal internment) and in return four Allied crew members could be released.
   This method was practised from July 1940, when the Luftwaffe crew members interned at Kronobergshed were sent home. At the same time British internees were released. In 1944 the number of interned Allied crew members began to rise disproportionately compared with the Germans arriving in Sweden. At first the Swedish Foreign Office made some deals with the Germans, and it was possible to release some Allied crew members in exchange for Luftwaffe aircraft landed in Sweden. Later in 1944 the Swedish government granted an advanced release of RAF crew members in exchange for radar equipment for the Swedish Air Force. A total of seventy-five crew members were released 'in advance' and fifty complete radar sets were delivered to Sweden.
   When the Americans got this information, the United States Government made a deal which enabled the release of over five hundred interned United States crew members during the autumn of 1944. In return, the Swedish government were given ownership of nine B-17s that had landed in Sweden.

   The verdict remains unchanged from the review of the first volume: "a terrific little book on an obscure topic."
   But will there be a third volume covering Luftwaffe landings in Sweden?
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Air Research.
   Thanks to Air Research for providing this review copy.