The machine with the identification code VF-U and the nickname “Little Ambassador” was damaged during an attack on Kempten and eventually had to make an emergency landing on the Rhine near Buchs. The aircraft was scrapped in Dübendorf in May 1945.
At the beginning of 1945, the Americans concentrated a large portion of their air attacks on transportation facilities in Germany in order to hinder enemy supply lines and support the rapid advance of Allied troops. On 22 February 1945, the Allied air forces launched a massive strike against the German railway system in a joint operation involving a total of 800 aircraft. For one American pilot, however, the war ended prematurely on that day when his P-51 made an emergency landing in the Rhine near Buchs. It was not until August 1995 that he was located in the United States and more information about his final mission became known.
Since the spring of 1944, the 52nd Fighter Group of the USAAF had been operating from a base near Madna in southern Italy. The unit had recently transferred from the 12th Air Force to the 15th Air Force, and its aircraft had changed from British Spitfires to P-51 Mustangs. Conditions at the base were far from comfortable. The crews had to make do with six-man tents. Because of frequent rainfall, the ground was constantly muddy, and improvisation was the order of the day. The accumulating transport crates from the external wing tanks were used to build storage sheds. Entertainment was provided by the officers’ club set up in a farmhouse, equipped with a bar, a record player, and a ping-pong table.
On 22 February 1945, the 52nd Fighter Group received an escort mission for six groups of B-17 bombers heading to southern Germany. Their targets were six freight yards between Lindau and Memmingen, as well as in the area around Ulm. Since the Allies had already achieved air superiority in southern Germany, little resistance from the German air force was expected. Escort missions themselves were becoming less important and were often combined with strafing missions, in which fighter aircraft attacked ground targets at low altitude.
Second Lieutenant Robert F. “Rocky” Rhodes was one of the pilots on this mission. He had just turned twenty-one and belonged to the 5th Squadron, known as the “Spittin’ Kittens.”
The North American P-51B Mustang “Little Ambassador”, serial number 43-24853, was flown by him for the first time that day. For Rocky, it was his sixth mission—and it would be his last.
At 10:40 a.m., 57 aircraft took off from the snow-covered airfield at Madna. After a flight of about two and a half hours, they reached their target area. The region around Ulm was covered by a solid cloud layer. Upon reaching the target area, the Mustangs dropped their external fuel tanks, searched for holes in the cloud cover, and immediately began strafing railway installations and airfields.
Below the cloud layer—which in some places was less than 150 meters above the ground—a fierce battle broke out. The vital transportation facilities were heavily defended, and the pilots were well aware of the exceptionally effective German anti-aircraft defenses. To make optimal use of ground cover, the attacks were flown at no more than 15 meters above the ground.
Most losses occurred during the withdrawal from the target. To deceive the anti-aircraft gunners and make their job harder, the pilots flew the departure phase in a deliberately erratic manner with irregular changes in altitude and direction. Despite this, twelve Mustangs were hit, and two crashed. While Lt. Bryant managed to bail out successfully, Lt. Cooper’s parachute apparently opened too early and became entangled in the tail of his aircraft at an altitude of only 150 meters. He was unable to free himself and was dragged down by his aircraft.
Rocky Rhodes had already successfully strafed a freight yard when he and Captain Tranquillo moved to attack a stationary train in open terrain. The train, however, unexpectedly turned out to be a flak train and returned fire. While Rocky escaped with a steep left turn at ground level, he saw Captain Tranquillo pull his aircraft straight up under heavy anti-aircraft fire in an attempt to find cover in the low clouds. Unable to find his leader again, Rocky joined a group that was preparing to attack an airfield for the second time.
However, this soon proved to be a fatal mistake, because the airfield defenses were now prepared. During the attack at an altitude of only about six meters, Rocky unknowingly flew past an anti-aircraft position and was hit on the right side—in the engine and tail—while flying at 450 km/h. He narrowly avoided letting his wingtip touch the ground. When he pulled up, he realized that his elevator control had been damaged and jammed. Only by gripping the control stick with both hands was he able to pull the Mustang up again just before reaching a forest.
Over the radio he called for help, hoping someone could escort him back to Italy. Only one colleague responded, but his aircraft was in just as bad condition. The chances of crossing the Alps with the heavily damaged “Little Ambassador”, or even returning to Madna, became smaller by the minute.
Meanwhile, Rocky had unknowingly crossed the Swiss border and followed the Rhine River upstream, south of Lake Constance, trailing a plume of black smoke. When his engine failed shortly afterward, he had to abandon the idea of reaching France.
From then on, events unfolded quickly. Surrounded by mountains, the American pilot decided not to bail out with a parachute but instead to look for an emergency landing site in the valley. A gravel bank in the Rhine riverbed seemed suitable. Rapidly losing altitude, he managed to radio that he had spotted a suitable landing place, jettisoned the cockpit canopy, and tightened his shoulder harness.
At the height of Vaduz, he turned right to begin his approach from the north. At 140 km/h, with landing flaps fully extended and both hands on the control stick, he skillfully landed the barely maneuverable Mustang on the gravel bank with the landing gear retracted. During the high-speed slide across the rocky ground, the underside of the fuselage was torn open, and the radiator and the right landing flap were ripped off.
The aircraft could not stop before the end of the gravel bank. It slid into the river channel and finally came to an abrupt halt in the Rhine, which was barely one meter deep, throwing up a huge plume of water.
Surprised by the shallow water and overjoyed to have survived unharmed, Rocky climbed out of the cockpit. Walking across the wing, he reached the Liechtenstein riverbank with dry feet. Believing he was still in Germany, he headed inland. Shortly afterward he encountered the first Liechtenstein residents who had hurried to the scene and asked them for directions to Switzerland. They explained that although Switzerland lay on the opposite bank of the Rhine, he was already safe.
After being handed over to the Swiss military, Rocky Rhodes was first interrogated in Sargans and the following afternoon transported by train to Dübendorf. However, he was not interned; instead he was accommodated for several weeks in a hotel in Bern. In the Swiss capital he was free to move around and finally had the opportunity to buy new clothes. His only obligation was to report every morning at 9:00 a.m. to the American embassy.
His stay in Switzerland ended with a transfer to Paris. After questioning by American authorities, he continued his journey to Scotland, and from there boarded the “Aquitania” to Canada, eventually returning to the United States.
The heavily damaged P-51B “Little Ambassador” was towed to the Liechtenstein bank of the Rhine, dismantled, transported to Dübendorf, and finally scrapped in May 1945.
Of the 57 Mustangs deployed by the 52nd Fighter Group on 22 February 1945, 53 returned to Madna after the successful mission. Nine aircraft, however, were unable to reach their home base directly due to lack of fuel and had to make an intermediate landing in Fano.
In May 1995, Rocky Rhodes accepted an invitation from the Liechtenstein National Museum and, for the first time in fifty years, revisited the site where he had made his emergency landing.
| Ereignissdatum | 22.2.1945 |
| Ort | Buchs |
| Kanton | SG |
| Ereignis | Notlandung |
| Nation | Amerika |
| Flugzeugart | Jäger |
| Flugzeugtyp | P-51 Mustang |
| Flugzeugbezeichnung | P-51 B |
| Flugzeug-Spitzname | Little Ambassador |
| Einteilung | 15th Air Force, 52nd Fighter Group, 5th Squadron |
| Basis | Madna (IT) |
| Auftrag | Angriff |
| Einsatzziel | Stafing bei Ulm (DE) |
| Rückkehr | in der Schweiz verschrottet |
| Werknummer | 43-24853 |
| Kennzeichen | VF-U |
| CH Archiv Nr. | A150 |
| Besatzung | Pilot: Robert F. Rhodes, 2nd Lt |
| Quelle | Cockpit |
| Autor | Stefan Naef |