The Danes Return Home

By

BOB FISH

On 5 May 1945 the 492nd Group received a request from OSS Headquarters in London to fly some members of the Danish government in exile back to Copenhagen, Denmark on 7 May 1945. This Danish party consisted of among other officials, a couple of members of the Danish royal family. The flight was scheduled for 7 May 1945 because that was the date on which the German military forces had agreed to surrender.

I was requested to personally pilot the C-47 used on this mission. I chose George Windburn to accompany me as my co-pilot. I don't know why I picked George because he had never flown in a C-47 before. I probably thought that I was such a hot pilot that I didn't need a fully qualified co-pilot. I chose M/Sgt. Templeton as my engineer. Templeton was a highly qualified engineer. He had been with us since before we became Carpetbaggers. For our radio operator I selected Major Silkebaken, our group communications officer.

Because some members of the Danish party had never traveled on aircraft before this flight we took Captain Loren H. Martin, a medical doctor, with us in case the first time air passengers became airsick in route. If my memory doesn't trick me I think we also took Major Bruce Akers, our group engineering officer with us.

On the afternoon of 6 May 1945 I was informed that there was some kind of an obstacle to having the armistice signed on 7 May. I don't remember for sure what the impediment was but I do' seem to recall it was based on who had the proper authority to sign for the Russians and for the Germans. This meant that there was a possibility that we would be in route before the armistice actually became effective. In view of the status of my passengers I was concerned that perhaps some part of the German military might not get the word. I could imagine some brainwashed Nazi fanatic fighter pilot deciding to make a name for himself by shooting down this lone C-47 when it entered German controlled territory in Denmark. There were several German fighter units stationed in Denmark. I knew that their communications system had been badly damaged. Some outfit might not get the word that the war was over.

I therefore called a friend who commanded a P-51 fighter group at a recently captured airfield in Belgium and asked him for a fighter escort until I got on, the ground in Copenhagen. He asked me how many planes I wanted. I stalled by telling him that he was the fighter authority and that he had a better idea than I of how many P-51’s it would take to do the job. He countered me by replying,“Tell me how many you need." I figured that if he wanted to play games I would call his hand. I said, "Give me a squadron of eighteen planes." There was a long pause at his end of the telephone line before he came back at me with. "My pilots are damn good. I'll provide you with two P-51's. They will escort you to wherever you want to land." I thanked him and. hung up.

The next morning my passengers arrived at Harrington and we got airborne by 10:00 am, We flew first to a field in Belgium and refueled. Then we took off for Copenhagen. By the time we reached 8000 feet altitude we had our two
P-51's join us, one flying on each side and above my airplane. When we arrived at Copenhagen the Germans were still in control of the airfield. When I radioed the control tower 1 they answered in English and cleared me to land. After landing we taxied to the airport terminal and stopped. Several automobiles drove up along side our C-47. There were three old touring cars with their tops folded down. There were also a couple of vintage sedans. I assumed that the big touring cars were for the VIP's we had on board. I was wrong.

When we descended from the airplane to the pavement there were several people in civilian garb waiting to greet us., The Germans were there also but they remained a couple hundred feet away.

Our VIP's got into the little sedans and drove away. We were told that the
big touring cars were for the air crew.

I explained that I wanted to move our airplane to an area where it wouldn’t block the entrance to the terminal. They guided me to a spot about 250 yards from the terminal and asked me to park there. While we were putting "the external control locks on our aircraft and tying it down a German Focke-Wulf 190 landed and taxied along side of our C-47. While we watched him, the pilot opened his canopy and held his hands above his head in a gesture of surrender. He obviously was trying to defect. I told the Danish people who were assisting me that he was their prisoner; I did not want him.

We were seated in the touring cars sitting on the backs of the seats and driven along the streets of Copenhagen. Large crowds along the streets cheered and waved at us as though we were conquering heroes. There was much waving of hats and arms as we passed by on our way to a mid-town hotel where we were assigned rooms. Fortunately for us the desk clerk at the hotel was a Canadian so we had an easy solution to our 'language problem. After refreshing ourselves, from our journey, we assembled in the bar of the hotel.

On my way downstairs to the bar I was accosted by a man well adorned with
two pistols and several hand grenades hanging on his belt. He had an abundant growth of beard and appeared to me to be a pretty rough looking character.
When we stopped on the steps he told me that they were planning a dinner party for our crew at a place about ten -blocks away from the hotel. He said the cars would pick us up at six in the evening at the hotel and take us to the party.
I thanked him and walked over to the desk clerk to have him identify this rough looking character for me. "He is the president of the Copenhagen Chamber of Commerce. He is also a leader in the Danish underground forces." I remarked that I thought he had a remarkably heavy beard. The clerk then informed me that he ware the beard as a disguise. If the Germans ever connected him with the resistance movement he would shave off his facial hair and continue to exist as a different person than the one the Germans would be looking for.

We attended their dinner which was for the purpose of honoring our air crew. They brought out their cute movie actresses to have dinner with us and dance with us. They made it a real gala occasion with lots of flowers and speeches. The food was a real treat after months of army chow.

The party ended about 11:30 pm and we returned to our hotel. The journey back to the hotel was interesting. The limited transportation they had was not readily available for our use at that hour. Rather than wait for transportation we elected to walk the several blocks back to the hotel. The street was wide with sidewalks on each side. The Danes were heavily armed and were gathered on one side of the street. The German soldiers who were still armed were gathered on the opposite side. There being no traffic we elected to walk down the center of the street. It gave me a somewhat eerie feeling.

We departed for England the next morning, the 8th of May 1945. When we arrived in Copenhagen we had found the Germans in control of the airport. The next morning we found a British airborne battalion had moved in during the night and they had taken over the control from the Germans. Whereas the Germans had ignored us when we came in, the British interrogated me for about an hour before they cleared me for take off. They had difficulty understanding that we had landed while the Germans were still in control. They finally decided to let me take off for Harrington. We had an uneventful flight back to England.

We arrived at Harrington just at dusk. As we approached the airfield it took on all the appearance of a major Fourth of July fireworks display. Flares were being fired into the air from allover .the base. I. was astonished and puzzled as to where the airmen had obtained the great number of flares we saw being fired skyward.

Before I had left the base on the .day before I had arranged for our military police to pick up ail of the arms on the base and lock them in the arms storage vault. All our air crew members had been- issued 45 caliber pistols. That meant that there were dozens of them scattered throughout the base. I could foresee the possible carnage that could ensue if our people started firing these arms in celebration of the end of the war. I expected them to celebrate. They had the occasion and they had earned the right. But I surely didn't want them accidently wounding each other. I wanted to do everything I could to assure they got home to the USA in good health. I certainly wanted to avoid having to write somebody's mother and tell her that her son had died of gun shot wounds while celebrating the end of the war.

I thought I had every type of firearm under control. But it wasn't so. I had misjudged the ingenuity of the American airman. We had overlooked one source of firearms. That source was the flare pistols in the life rafts of the B-24 aircraft. Each B-24 carried two life rafts. Each life raft contained a vary pistol and many rounds of flare ammunition. It was this source that was providing the fireworks we saw as we approached the air base. "Se le guerre:"

Footnotes:

1) “They Flew by Night”, author – Col. Robert W. Fish (Ret.) – Pages 269 thru 272