Twelve American bombers landed in Dübendorf ZH 80 years ago
Published: Monday, Mar 11th 2024, 08:20
Updated At: Monday, Mar 18th 2024, 06:00
Volver a Live Feed
Exactly 80 years ago, twelve American Air Force warplanes made an emergency landing at the military airfield in Dübendorf ZH. The event attracted many onlookers who were deeply impressed by this event on March 18, 1944.
The air raid alarm sounded in Dübendorf at 2 pm. The first US bombers were circling in the sky. 738 planes had taken off from England to attack southern Germany on this day of the war. Industrial plants and airfields in Friedrichshafen, Munich, Oberpfaffenhofen, Lechfeld, Landsberg and Memmingen were targeted.
However, not all US bombers made it back to the base station. Many planes had leaking fuel tanks and damaged engines, forcing them to make an emergency landing in Switzerland. Swiss Army fighter pilots escorted the US aircraft that had entered Swiss airspace to Dübendorf.
Hundreds of onlookers watched as the so-called "Flying Fortresses" (B-17) and "Liberator" (B-24) of the US Air Force landed near Zurich. "Never before have I felt the eerie beat of the wings of this war so clearly on my neck," one eyewitness told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at the time. The crews, ten men per plane, were interned.
Spectacle ends fatally for pupil
The road to Uster ZH had to be closed that afternoon because a plane landed right next to the road and a wing was blocking the road.
The spectacle ended tragically for a 15-year-old schoolboy from Wallisellen ZH. He was hit by an SBB overhead line that was torn down by one of the US bombers. He suffered fatal injuries. Two other spectators were seriously injured.
On this Saturday 80 years ago, three more US bombers crashed near Fehraltorf ZH, Kirchberg im Toggenburg SG and Diessenhofen TG. Most of the crews of these aircraft were able to save themselves with parachutes. A fourth aircraft landed in Altenrhein SG.
During the war, a total of 244 foreign aircraft landed, crashed or were shot down on Swiss territory, 100 of them in Dübendorf alone. However, there were never as many in one day as on March 18, 1944.
©Keystone/SDA
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic