VK2-nödlandare, Yankees, tuggummi, baseball, internering m m

[Lars Sundin]

I en tråd nyligen om "flygplankyrkogårdar" kom jag in på de amerikanska bombplan som ställdes upp På Hässlö under senare delen av beredskapen. Det var det närmaste jag kunde tänka mig en amerikansk flygplankyrkogård i den amerikanska öknen.

I ett par av Aviation Historic Researchs böcker finns en flygbild av denna imponerande armada på Hässlö, och omnämnandet av denna bild fick en flyghistorisk vän att maila mig om barndomsminnena kring denna armada. Hur han cyklade dit dit för att kolla och njuta av motorljudet. Nära hans hem spelade amerikanerna baseball och de svenska pojkarna fick låna handskar och bollar och kasta till varandra. Men det bästa var att det bjöds på tuggummi! (Att flygare kom med nyheten tuggummi påpekas även i den tidningsartikel om Lancastern i Agunnaryd som Lennart Westergård tipsat om. Imponerande flyghistorisk hembygdsforskning bakom förresten.)

Man kanske måste vara 70+ för att minnas allt som ännu inte fanns då (så att säga), allt det nya som kom från "over there". En del alltså redan före krigsslutet. Musiken, tuggummi, nylonstrumpor, kulspetspennor (en hette väl Safir?; kulspetspennan slog förresten först igenom inom Bomber Command) och bananer och serietidningar (tog väl några år) m m. Själv minns jag att min mormor skrämde mig för tuggummi. Svalde man ett sånt måste doktorn skära av en på mitten för att få ut det. I övrigt visste varje flygintresserad pojke att tuggummi var bra att reparera läckande bränslerör med!

Så kom modellbilar med en McCoy- eller Dooling-motor som snurrade runt en centrumpinne. Eller kanske t o m kördes rakt fram.

Hur det såg ut på Hässlö våren 1945 från luften ses här. Jag tackar Bo Widfeldt för att jag fått låna bilden (även om min vän själv skannat bilden och skickat mig den.)

Om hur det var att vara amerikansk flygare internerad i Sverige och reparera plan eller uppleva platser som Rättvik, Loka Brunn m fl finns mycket berättat. Ävenså om återbesök många år senare. Några lästips:

- http://home.wwdb.org/srhodes/Tribute_fi ... 20stay.htm där det även länkas till det info-blad Karen Cline i USA redigerade och där jag bl a ser att Lennart Westergård medverkat.

- http://user.tninet.se/~vwu458u "Stragglers"; en numera vilande sajt men god läsning finns kvar

- http://hem.passagen.se/sfff/bildarkiv.htm SFF-Smålands bildarkiv visar flera nödlandare.

- http://www.vittsjobjarnum.nu/index.php? ... &Itemid=54 Ett exempel på vad man kan hitta när man googlar. Mycket mer av VK2-minnen finns att finna på webben.


Här ett klipp ur Karen Clines "Sweden after the flak", decembernumret 1999, där Joe Sirotnak berättar om fröjder i Rättvik samt om verksamheten på Hässlö:

...Finally, when April arrived, we received the word.We would all be moving down to Vasteräs.

At Vasteräs there was a Swedish Air Force installation. It was a rather crude accommodation with one paved runway and several grassy ones. The Operations Hut was exactly that, a hut, which seemed to have been put together in a rather hurried and even haphazard fashion. However, the hotel in town was pleasant, and there was one other redeeming feature about the location. It was only about 35 miles from Stockholm. This made it easy for weekend excursions to that Scandinavian metropolis. We had discovered that wine was available in many of the restaurants. The reason for Vasterås was that it was being used as a staging area to get the repairable Libs and Forts into flyable condition. Many of the ships which had survived their landings in Sweden were eventually brought to this field where they were worked on by American and Swedish personnel, and test flown by American pilots. We actually ended up with about two dozen aircraft in slightly better than marginal condition With a long running start they could even get off the ground. I had a couple of these short test flights. I would rather have been back in the flak over Hamburg.

Our life in Vasteräs was different. We had a job to go to during the day now, so playing was mostly restricted to the nighttime hours. The spring weather was delightful. There were dances in the city park on the weekends, and there was bicycling in the town and countryside. Then the war ended.

VE DAY in Stockholm! We had a party at a restaurant where we were joined by some Danish refugees, a couple of Norwegians, and assorted other people whom we never got to identify. Champagne! It flowed like water as we drank one toast after another. Why not? It meant that we would be soon going home. The uncertainty of not knowing how longwe would have to remain in this rugged country far from home was now obliterated. It was all over! Let's cut the orders and get going.But wait! It was not to be.The leading question remains. What is to be done with the detachment of aircraft lined up in not very neat rows at Vasteräs? “Well, men, that there bunch of aircraft has to be repatriated. That means, men, that they have to be gotten out of the country. In fact, men, those Libs and Forts, they have to be gotten back to England, and the only way that can happen is if somebody flies 'em back. Now, we're real sorry about this, but if we get real eager we ought to be able to get the job done before the summer is over." Well, all told it didn't turn out too bad. Our crew made two trips, and by the middle of June it was all done.

We had no uniforms, of course, so we flew the ferry trips in our Swedish made civilian clothes. On the very first trip, after we landed at the base in England, our patched up Lib with peeling paint and leaking oil taxied off the runway to the hardstand. The engines were shut down, and after a few moments, out of the open bomb bay doors erupted this handful of "civilians" dressed in an assortment of clothes, which by any standards reflected only very poor taste. This sight caused a bit of a flap at operations. However, it all calmed down, and the welcoming crowd dispersed, and now there were photographers shooting our pictures - the crew of the first aircraft to be returned from Sweden....


Lars S