Larry Jensen served as radio operator with 8th AF, 351st BG at Polebrook, England.



On his 2nd mission, Oct 7th 1944, the target was synthetic oil factories in Politz, Germany. This very mission, they had an experienced replacement pilot, Einer Petersen on his 25th mission. Their aircraft B-17G #42-31192 (YB-R), first lost a supercharger for engine number 2, before reaching target.



Over Politz aircraft was hit by flak and lost engine 3 and 4, and a lot of fuel. Crew decided to try to reach Sweden and headed out over the Baltic Sea with only one engine working. Due to clouds they couldn't see if they were over land or sea.



When they ran out of fuel they tried for a emergency landing. Under the clouds they realized the area had a lot of woods and few fields. When approaching a field the pilot spotted potato pickers in the intended landing area. He tried to gain altitude again, but the plane stalled and crashed in the woods nearby.



The crew were in emergency positions in the radio room and were thrown out when the plane crashed and split in half against a big rock, catching fire. The pilot Petersen and co-pilot Duane Wilson was caught in the flames still in the cockpit. Three other crew members were also killed instantly or died in the ambulance.



Four survived the very crash: Jensen and the tail gunner Lloyd Best, together with navigator Benjamin Christensen and bombardier William Rooney. They were taken to hospital in Karlshamn, Sweden where Christensen and Rooney died a few days later.



Jensen and Best were interned in Sweden for three months, first in Gränna and later in Mullsjö. Then they were transferred back to England via Stockholm to Scotland. Larry Jensen has described the events himself in a interview for the project "the Voices of World War II". The crash site in Farabol is marked with a memorial stone. MACR 9566.