Gentlemen,

I located a report in the Air Attache files for the US Embassy, Stockholm at the National Archives. The loss of this aircraft is not mentioned in Pat Fussell Keen's book, "Eyes of the Eighth: 7th PG 1942-1945".

On 22 November 1944, 1/Lt. Alan V. Elston Jr. left Mount Farm at 0957 hours in F-5E 43-28616. He was briefed to take photos of a factory in the northwest corner of Stettin, A V-2 site in the southwest corner of Stettin, an airfield east of Stargard and a town south of Swinemunde, antennas on an island east of Grepswolder, and a marshalling yard at Stralsmund. The aircraft departed the English coast at 1100 hours near Great Yarmouth at 19,500 feet. The enemy coast was crossed at 1130 hours near The Hague flying at 30,000 feet.

Both engines operated smoothly and the aircraft functioned perfectly. The flight continued at 27,000 feet but all targets en route to Stettin were covered by 9/10ths overcast. The tell-tale sound of hum in the earphones signaled German radar was tracking him as he approached Stettin.

Upon arrival at 1300 hours, intense black and grey flak bursts were encountered, both trailing and barrage type. The target was partially covered with clouds and only the corner of the factory at Stettin was visible. At this moment the turbo supercharger failed on the right engine, possibly due to flak damage, causing an engine loss. The manifold pressure registered 17 inches or 65 inches of Mercury, and the regulator could not be set any other way. The engine loss forced him to drop to 20,000 feet.

He radioed Lt. Summercamp who was flying in the same area and informed him of the engine loss. The fuel gauges indicated there was enough fuel to land in France. The right engine re-started successfully, but he was unable to regulate the manifold pressure, forcing him to feathered the engine. Single-engine performance resulted in loss of altitude.

At 1330 hours several Me109s jumped the F-5E. Evasive action was taken by diving into clouds at 4,000 feet. As Elston recalls, "I would break out of the clouds only to find an Me109 overhead, so I continued to zigzag from cloud to cloud towards Latvia. I did this for about 15 minutes. I then started my right engine and the manifold pressure still remained out of control, so I feathered and made no further attempt to start it. I then checked by fuel gauges adn decided to head north and attempt to land in Sweden or Finland.

"I did not have enough fuel to make a planned landing in France. This would require flying back over Germany at 4 ore 5,000 feet and return into the area I had just left. There was a weather front moving across western Europe and I did not know what the weather condition would be over France. So I decided to land in Finland or Sweden."

Lt. Elston made a successfull single-engine landing at Barkaby Airfield, near Stockholm with only 100 gallons of fuel let. All attempts to detonate the IFF equipment were unsuccessful--it would not explode. It was left intact along with the VHF radio equipment and crystals, flimsies and maps. The film remained in the cameras. His escape kit was turned over to the Swedish military authorities. He was now out of the war and interned.

Norman Malayney