Air Combat Swiss VS. Germans, wait... what??

[Berthier92]

I was Browsing the internet when i found an interesting article about Swiss air-combat against Americans and Germans. Now most of you would see Switzerland as the country which sat down and stayed Neutral during the war, trying to avoid a fight. I thought so too, (being swiss myself) But that didn't seem to be the case. Here are some interesting bits from that article:



The Swiss used their Bf-109Es in several furious dogfights with the Luftwaffe over airspace incursions during the invasion of France, with the Luftwaffe losing a handful of He-111s and Bf-110s, to the loss of a few Swiss Bf-109s.

In April 1944 12 further G-6 aircraft were acquired along with their current Me 109E-4's, in exchange for the destruction of a highly secret Messerschmitt Me 110G nightfighter which made an emergency landing in Switzerland. The Swiss Air Force used their Bf 109Gs until 1946.

On May 10, 1940 air combat between Switzerland and Germany was initiated. Several Swiss Bf 109s engaged a German Dornier Do 17 near the border at Bitschwil; in the ensuing exchange of fire, the Dornier was hit and eventually forced to land near Altenrhein. The scene was repeated on May 16 when a German He 111 returned from France by way of Swiss airspace. Two Swiss fighters jumped the light bomber when it dropped down below cloud cover to de-ice its wings. The German aircraft was hit by machine gun fire and was further damaged by anti-aircraft fire near Zurich. Two injured flyers parachuted; the other two crew members went down with the plane and were captured.

On June 8 a C-35 observation plane, a relic biplane, was attacked over the Jura Mountains by two German Bf 110s. The pilot and observer were killed. Later on the same day, Swiss Captain Lindecker led about fifteen Swiss fighters against twenty-eight German planes. The Swiss pilots again displayed their ability in air to air combat, knocking three of the German planes from the sky and severely wounding the crew in a fourth. A Swiss Bf 109 was hit and damaged in the dogfight.

German reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with cameras, flying over the fortified Northern frontier of Switzerland, were driven away by anti-aircraft fire. On 1 June, 36 German bombers entered Swiss air space and were attacked by Swiss ME-109’s. Two HE-111 bombers were shot down. The next day another HE-111 was shot down by a Swiss fighter. On 4 June, as the British army was being evacuated from Dunkirk, the Swiss Air Force was engaged in an intensive dog-fight with 29 German planes. Both Luftwaffe and Swiss planes were shot down. One German aircraft had the following order on board: “Lure the Swiss fighters into battle and shoot down as many as possible.” On 8 June, it was David against Goliath again – 15 Swiss aircraft engaged 28 Luftwaffe planes, resulting in the downing of 2 Swiss and 3 German aircraft.

As Allied strategic bombing of Germany intensified, more and more American bombers strayed over Switzerland. On 18 March 1944, sixteen crash-landed. On 1 April, 39 civilians were killed when a raid mistakenly hit Schaffhausen. On the 13th, thirteen US bombers overflew Switzerland; twelve were forced to land by Swiss fighters while the other, refusing to obey, was shot down. On 22 February 1945, American bombers accidentally hit Switzerland yet again and killed sixteen people. More deaths and damage resulted from raids on 4 and 11 March at Basel and Zurich. During the war, 166 American aircraft crashed or landed in Switzerland and 1700 American flyers were interned there.


Second World War Books: Review

Does anyone else have more info on Swiss Kampfwaffe (Swiss Airforce) battle history? would be great to know more.

[danhashman]

super !!!!! dankä vilmool für dä tolli pricht..

grüess us mexiko..

[Berthier92]

En schwiezr in mexico? naja, i bi ja au ned grad i de schwiez . vo welem Kanton bisch?

[sSterbebild]

Fliegerkompanie 21 virtuelle Fliegerkompanie 21 der Schweizer Luftwaffe


Die Kampfflugzeug-Serie (2): Gefhrlicher Triumph ber Grings Luftwaffe (WOZ, Schweiz)

[Berthier92]

Bist du in der viruelle fliegerkompanie? Wie kann man da mitt machen?

[sSterbebild]

Nein sammle mehr 1 Weltkrieg Flieger - Bayern

aber das ein oder andere kennt man halt so.

servus in die schweiz

[Berthier92]

was fuer sachen sammelst du denn? 1 weltkrieg flugzeuge? oder bekleidung etc.?.

ich selbst hab ne 1892 Mannlicher Berthier

[Panzer 3]

Hi,
It would have been nice to have read the answers in english, !.
dave,

[Adrian Stevenson]

Back in the 1970's in "Air Enthusiast" magazine there was an article entitled "Emil vs the Luftwaffe" about the Swiss Bf109 E's in combat against the Luftwaffe. I might still have my copy, but it is in storage at my parents home. I recall it as I found it interesting at the time.

Cheers, Ade.

[Berthier92]

Would be great to see the article Ade