B-24 Liberator captured in the Fussach, Germany
On June 9, 1944, during a bombing mission targeting Munich, B-24G-10-NT, serial number 42-78106, assigned to the 758th Bomb Squadron, 460th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, was forced to make an emergency landing at Fussach, Germany, due to engine failure and a navigational error. Pilot 1st Lieutenant Herbert Oleson mistakenly believed he had landed in neutral Switzerland and was taken aback by the arrival of German border guards. The crew was subsequently captured and imprisoned at Stalag 7A in Moosburg, from where they were eventually repatriated at war’s end.
The damaged B-24, nicknamed “Cherry II,” was repaired and pressed into service by the Luftwaffe under the designation NF+FL. Initially used as a target for fighter pilot training exercises to develop tactics against the Liberator, it was eventually destroyed by German forces at Hildesheim airfield prior to the conclusion of the war.