Wartime Flights to Switzerland

Thanks Martin, interesting indeed. No need to go to any trouble regarding the book, thanks anyway.

I wonder if the Allies had to compensate Swissair for their lost aircraft.

It must have been an odd thing flying from peaceful Switzerland into wartorn Germany with allied bombs falling all around, etc

Dave

Swissair ran a limited service through Europe during WW 2, mainly with DC-2’s and DC-3’s- but there were no BOAC flights into Switzerland at all. There were destinations in Germany and Italy, but IIRC also London. They lost a DC-2 at Stuttgard Airfield during an Allied strafing run in 1944.
There is a great book on Swissair 1939 – 1945 (written in German…) I could organize for you or make a an English summary (as time permits).
Please drop me a line: martin[at]swissmustangs.ch

cheers
Martin / Swiss Mustangs

Dave, seems like I read something about this as well, however it also talked about flight between Sweden and the UK run by the USAAF. There was a program on in the UK back in the late 90’s called “Whispers In The Air” who’s subject matter delt with the rising number of USAAF bomber crews going into Sweden and Switzerland on suspect battle damage or so the program hinted at. I Know it caused a stir here in the states among many a Eighth AF veteran. I was told by a friend of mine who flew with the 390 BG, about unmarked aircraft going into Sweden to remove a certian number of “guest” of the Swedish government! Not sure if Sir Douglas was …..err never mind !

Googling to see if I could find anything about this, I came up with this:
http://home.t-online.de/home/konrad.knirim/edwards.htm
It’s about the need for watches during WW2, and, I thought, quite interesting in it’s own right.
It doesn’t prove anything, but it does suggest there were flights. On the other hand it also suggests the Swedish flights were approved which according to everything I’ve ever heard, they weren’t.

Thanks everyone, I must have been mistaken – happens when you skim something, half take it in, and then don’t think about it till a few days later.

Still an interesting one anyway so thanks for the replies. I am still interested to know how the Swiss got on for travelling round Europe and beyond, how much freedom or restrictions they had, if anyone knows.

Cheers
Dave

Forgot about Gibraltar.
Actor Leslie Howard was on an unsuccessful flight from Portugal; the Dakota he was travelling in, Ibis (haven’t bothered looking up the registration – someone else will know it anyway!), being shot down 1/6/43 over the Bay of Biscay.

Flood.™

I have read a lot on BOAC during the war and am certian Swizerland was not surved. I guess Lufthansa may have flow there during the war?
The runs to Sweden were operated from Leuchars in 1943-45 with 10 Mossies. Their main outbound load was mail and newspapers to counter enemy propaganda. With ball bearings being the main load back. Passengers were occasionally carried. It was operated in daylight until A FW190 shot up
G-AGGD 3/1/44 and it forced landed in Sweden afterwards it operated at night. The service continued until early 1945.
Before that Lodestars were used at night, none seem to have been lost in action. The Whitleys were only used Gibraltar-Malta and north African routes but were totally uneconomic.

The most well known activity that BOAC performed was the ‘ball bearing runs’ Britain managed to get the largest share of Sweden’s production. A Mosquito although unarmed was very fast and usually managed to out run German fighters. One passenger could be accommodated in the bomb bay on a bed with oxygen and intercom. There was a recent article in A***plane about this route.
mmitch.

There was an article in one of the ‘big two’ mags on mosquitos to and fro between Sweden and England. It was quite interesting and worth reading. It included a bit about RAF and Luftwafe aircrews brawling in the pub.

Think the Swedish flights used Dakotas, Hudsons(?), and possibly Whitleys too. It was almost certainly not available to the general public like now, but almost certainly reserved for diplomats and those engaged in war work, spys, evaded air crews, etc.
The crews themselves were probably a mix of RAF and some (few?) civilians – although, being wartime, they would have been under military orders anyway. – Nermal

I know that the flights to Sweden used Mosquito aircraft, not sure on the Swiss flights. The Sweden / UK aircraft were civilian registered I believe, but crew were RAF, is this right?.

Couldn’t possibly have been Sweden could it?
BOAC flew to Sweden, Portugal, and Spain from Britain and did occasionally get shot down. Not heard of any flights to Switzerland though.

Flood.™