Editing Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (section)

=== Swiss-interned B-17s ===
During the [[Strategic bombing during World War II|Allied bomber offensive]], some US and British bombers landed in Switzerland and were [[internment|interned]]. Some had been damaged and were unable to get back to Allied bases. Others flew into Swiss airspace due to navigation errors, and on rare occasions, [[Aerial incidents in Switzerland in World War II|accidentally bombed Swiss cities]]. Swiss fighter aircraft intercepted such aircraft and sought to force them to land.

In October 1943, a B-17F-25-VE (tail number 25841) developed engine trouble after a raid over Germany and was forced to land in Switzerland. The plane and its US flight crew were interned. The aircraft was turned over to the [[Swiss Air Force]], which flew the bomber until the end of the war, using other interned but non-airworthy B-17s for spare parts. The bomber's topside surfaces were repainted a dark [[olive drab]], but it retained its light gray underwing and lower fuselage surfaces. It carried the Swiss national white cross insignia in red squares on the topside and underside of its wings, and on both sides of its rudder and its fuselage, with the light gray flash letters "RD" and "I" on either side of the fuselage insignias.<ref name="Cravens, Wesley 1956">Cravens, Wesley. ''Army Air Forces in World War II''. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1956.</ref>