01 by
Dave Bailey, on Flickr
The war in Europe was definitely winding down in 1946, with Germany fighting desperately to keep the Allies from its borders. If not for the 1944 rebellion in the Soviet Union allowing them to forget about the Eastern Front, they would have lost at least a year earlier.
The early jets that were in the air forces of all combatants had proven themselves many times over, with Germany having a slight lead in technology that was hampered by their steadily reducing manufacturing ability. The American P-80 was arriving in ever greater numbers, and was now the primary front-line fighter. Most were painted in a wartime scheme of olive drab upperside with light grey underside, a simple and effective camouflage.
02 by
Dave Bailey, on Flickr
On a patrol out of Leeuwarden Air Base in The Netherlands, 5 P-80s were looking for Luftwaffe transport aircraft travelling to and from Norway, still mostly under Nazi occupation. Over the Baltic north of the Danish island of Bornhom, they encountered a couple of elderly Ju-52s still soldiering on after many years of service. The transports immediately turned north-northeast, and led the Americans into a trap. Racing in from, further east was a large group of Me-262s , and a fierce fight ensued. Three P-80s were downed, and half a dozen German machines, but one American pilot pressed home his attack on the transports in all the confusion. He managed to shoot both down, but had lost sight of the rest of his patrol. Low on fuel, he elected to head for the only land he could see, and landed safely, with almost empty tanks, in a farm field in neutral Sweden.
03 by
Dave Bailey, on Flickr
The Swedish government impounded the aircraft and turned it over to the Flygvapnet for their perusal. The pilot was repatriated, but the aircraft stayed behind. National insignia and any identifying marking were quickly painted over with a poorly matching paint, and Swedish markings applied. As it was the only one of its type in service, it was given a simple code number of ‘1’. Until the end of the war in Europe it was used as a squadron hack, and parts were supplied through legitimate channels by Lockheed. Returned to the USAAF in early 1947, it was declared unserviceable and sent to a maintenance school.
04 by
Dave Bailey, on Flickr
05 by
Dave Bailey, on Flickr
