[Milsurplus] Interned U.S. aircraft in Sweden WWII

[Hubert Miller]

I was rereading the May 2020, "Military Trader" magazine before moving it on, the article "Flying
Hoo-Jive to Freedom", about an American B-24 pilot and crew interned in Sweden. There was a
low-res photo and I counted about 43 U.S. aircraft parked there. The article says the crews were
allowed to work on and repair their planes. Also that on "test flights" they took up Swedish
military men. Overflights were made on German - occupied Norway and the Swedes took photos,
I assume of possible German invasion routes. Sweden maintained a precarious neutrality during
WW2, but definitely and secretly siding with the Allies after German defeats in 1943. Sweden had
seen the upcoming war and had been growing its military since 1936. We are familiar with the
RCA BC-474 that was to be sold to Sweden, which order was cancelled when the U.S. entered
the war. I read that Sweden had also ordered 300 aircraft from the U.S. and this order was cancelled
also; Sweden went on and bought aircraft from Italy.
I read a pretty interesting Wiki article on Sweden in WWII at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_during_World_War_II#Military_balance
I learned there that Ericsson was one of the Swedish firms exporting to Germany. I have a nice
Ericsson telegraph key and a throat mic that came out of Germany in the years soon after WWII,
but I have no idea what equipment they were used with.

At war end, the U.S. planes were flown out. I find this a pretty interesting topic and I'll maybe put
on my to-look-up list some more reading on the interned aircraft. I wonder what the actual exact
number was. The planes on the field, that I could make out, all looked like B-24.
-Hue Miller
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