Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress foreign aircraft landing on Swiss territory and 56 aircraft crashing there. In October 1943 the Swiss interned Boeing B-17F-25-VE, tail number 25841, and its U.S. flight crew after the Flying Fortress developed engine trouble after a raid over Germany and was forced to land. The aircraft was turned over to the Swiss Air Force, who then flew the bomber until the end of the war, using other interned but non-airworthy B-17s for spare parts. The bomber was repainted a dark olive drab, but retained its light gray-painted under surfaces. It carried Swiss national white cross insignia in red squares on
American Theater (World War II) other heavy bomber projects were cancelled. During the final months of World War II, Japan had planned to use plague as a biological weapon against U.S. civilians in San Diego, California, during Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night. The plan was set to launch at night on September 22, 1945. However it was shelved after Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, rejected it. Additionally Japan surrendered five weeks before the plan had been intended to take place. These false alarms have generally been attributed to military and civilian inexperience with war and poor radars of the era.