27 Sep Crash Site Gotland
Eyewitnesses and other interested parties gather in Hemse on Sept. 8, 2013
When my sisters, brother, and I (Siblings in Sweden) arrived on the Swedish island of Gotland our mission was to visit the crash site of our Dad’s B-17 Liberty Lady. My son Johnny and I made the trip last May when we met several gentlemen who had actually been there on March 6, 1944.
Some of those same eyewitnesses returned for our visit this year. They were accompanied by many other locals who were either interested or had a family connection to the event.
We first met in Hemse at 1 pm in the driveway of the former photographic studio of eyewitness Lasse Svensson. When he was 17 years old Lasse took the landmark photograph of the Liberty Lady circling his little town as the crew frantically searched for a safe place to land.
Hardy Gahm’s collection of Liberty Lady pieces of the plane.
As we gathered we talked, hugged, introduced and reminisced. Anna-Stine Purk, daughter of Albin Larsson was there to meet us. Her Dad bought the plane, except for the engine, for 250 skr. Nothing from that airplane went to waste. Today two wing spans can be found in local garages. Parachutes were used to make clothing. What little fuel was left was put to good use in a time when there was almost none to be found.
Hardy Gahm, whose uncle was one of the first responders that fateful day, brought a few of his pieces of the plane. Hardy generously gave a treasured Liberty Lady shell to Bill, to Kathy and to Barbara. (He gave one to me last year.)
What we’ve learned is that almost everyone in town has inherited a part of our Lady.
Mattias goes over the flight parth of the Liberty Lady as it flies from England to Sweden
Then we drove to the nearby field known in those parts as the Mästermyr. The final landing spot for the Liberty Lady, its 13th mission.
In honor of the day my brother Bill Allen wore our Dad’s flight jacket. Herman gave it to Bill in 1992. In the pocket is a note that reads, “Dear Bill – There are so many thoughts, so many memories, a little horror, a little sadness all entwined with this jacket. It is now yours to have and to hold as a center fold for all our love. Herman.”
Several of the young men enjoyed trying it on, modeling for the crowd, imagining what it had been like to wear it then.
Our Swedish friend Mattias Eneqvist became interested in the Liberty Lady before I did, when he learned that his grandfather had guarded the plane. Mattias brought a huge map of Europe and showed everyone the flight path of the flying fortress from Thurleigh Airfield in England over to Berlin and then north to Sweden. Mattias had copies of the notes that the Swedish Air Force spotters recorded as the wounded Lady flew over each of them.
While Mattias demonstrated the flight path his beautiful wife Linn served a fika, the traditional Swedish coffee break. It was a perfect day.
Bill in Herman’s flight jacket and the group review photos and try to identify the landing site.
Just as last year the eyewitnesses had differing opinions as to exactly where the plane finally came to rest. After all it was sixty-nine years ago! Was it Mästermyr A or Mästermyr B?
It doesn’t matter. Our father and his crew landed safely that day when so many did not. It was the day that the 8th Air Force lost more planes than any other. We collected limestone rocks from both sites for everyone in our family as mementoes of the miracle.
We were there.
Related posts
B-17 over Hemse
Mästermyr Landing
Mästermyr A or Mästermyr B
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