Crew landed Sweden - severe damage by fighters. All crew members repatriated by Nov.  1944. Lt. James M.  Henry was the regular bombardier on this crew.  He CPT. 29/1/45

Letter to Paul West 26 Feb 1996:

On 7 March 1945 I was released as an internee and flew as a passenger in a C-87 (converted B-24 to Scotland and was assigned to a Casual Pool in a Replacement Depot at Stone,  England. We were informed that we internees would be returned to the United States but would first go back to our Groups for debriefing. I was ordered back to the 100th Bomb Group for ten days temporary duty. The debriefing consisted of describing what had happened on the mission,  and signing a bunch of Security papers so I couldn't talk about being interned or what we did there. I then went to London to buy a new uniform and other gear,  then back to the Replacement Depot for shipment to the States.  

You didn't ask for the following information,  but I thought you might find it a bit interesting. Do with it what you will.  

On about 1 July 1944 I was summoned to the American Legation in Stockholm to meet with Colonel Hardison.  I had been "volunteered",  along with some other Pilots to form a maintenance unit to recover,  repair and fly interned aircraft to a storage site in Sweden. On June 20 and 21 twenty four B-17s and B-24s had landed at Bulltofta airfield at Malmo. Ten aircraft had previously landed there,  and were in process of repair by a small contingent of one Officer and nine enlisted men.   

The air field was a mess. Airplanes were scattered all over the small field,  some had belly landed,  others had landed on one gear,  two had crashed head on into a sheer bluff,  one had smashed its right wing into a building,  and another had gone over an embankment,  and nosed down into a police pistol range. Others were erect,  on three wheels. Two B-24s had crashed and burned.  

We had no special tools or maintenance equipment at the start,  but with the assistance of the Swedish fighter unit and ABA airline facility,  we were able begin work. A Major Joe Filkins arrived from the UK on June 19 on an inspection trip,  and remained to oversee our operation,  and was successful in obtaining Kennedy type tool boxes,  and special tools from the UK. Later,  he was successful in getting a Jeep and Trailer. We had an operation going!

We looked at every airplane to determine if they could be repaired,  if not,  they would be used for salvageable parts and scrapped.  

Most of these airplanes had landed in southern Sweden,  in places other than Malmo. It was necessary to send teams to these locations to retrieve them. One B-17 had belly landed in a peat bog,  the team even laid a short narrow-gauge railroad to salvage the parts.  

The most complex repair accomplishment was on my own B-17G 42-39994. We replaced the entire left wing and landing gear,  with parts from another aircraft. The feat was described,  with fair accuracy,  in a July 1945 issue of Air Force magazine.  

This was a "salve to my wounds" in that there were several magazine articles at the time that described the life of Riley we internees in Sweden and Switzerland had enjoyed. Implications were made that we had shirked our combat duties,  and ran away.    

Too bad these writers could not have been there to attend the funerals in Sweden,  visit the wounded in the hospital,  and see the extensive battle damage most of the airplanes had received.  Too bad they didn't know about the long hours spent under field conditions,  repairing aircraft and some that would have been junked back in the UK. We really had a ball!

While at Malmo,  I was called back to Stockholm to sit on an evaluation board to determine whether the crews were justified in the landings in Sweden. Only one was found to be questionable. No action was taken against the Aircraft Commander.  

During the period I was there,  One hundred and thirty two B-17s and B-24s came to Sweden. Of that number,  we repaired,  flight tested, ferried and maintained in flyable storage eighty eight of them and scrapped the rest. At the end of the war, they were flown back to the UK and scrapped and were then sent to the States in November.  

The crew were released and flown in a C-87 to the UK on September 30, 1944, returned to the 100th BG  

Sam Barrick