The Singing Pilots – and a village is turned upside down

Tellenburg Open Air Theatre Frutigen 1. July – 8. August 2026

Adelboden 1943-45

The first internees to arrive in Adelboden were officers and non-commissioned officers from the American army. Their pay helped Adelboden to flourish. They brought life to the village while the local men were serving in the military at the country's borders. The officers were not allowed to be put to work and therefore had plenty of free time to play sports, socialise with the locals, dance...

The first B-17 emergency landing in Switzerland that did not take place at an airfield occurred in a potato field in Utzensdorf near Bern. The crew was one of the first to be interned in Adelboden. Engineer John Scott later married his great love in Adelboden, who emigrated to America with him after the war.

In the spring of 1943, the village of Adelboden was in a state of war: Swiss men of military age were at the border, all the hotels were empty, and there had been no tourists since the outbreak of war. Many hotel employees lost their jobs, and several hotels had to close, even going bankrupt. Trade and commerce also suffered, unemployment figures rose, money became scarce, and poverty spread. The municipality had 2,700 inhabitants.

And suddenly, along with 700 Englishmen, around 600 Americans ‘flood’ the tranquil village as interned soldiers. The Americans are crews from long-range bombers that crashed or were shot down in Switzerland. They were exclusively officers and non-commissioned officers, quartered in empty hotels and holiday apartments and, in some cases, poorly looked after by the Swiss army. The US legation in Bern provided the internees with ample pay and the necessary equipment. These army personnel were allowed to move freely in Adelboden, but were ordered to remain there until the end of the war.

How are the residents of Adelboden coping with this situation? What fears and emotions does it trigger in this mountain village? What problems need to be overcome with a resident population that has doubled in size? What potential do people suddenly see in the money-filled American pockets?

With this entertaining, interesting, exciting, funny and emotional story about the bomber pilots and the village turned upside down, we take you on a grand open-air spectacle to Adelboden in the years 1943 to 1945.

The author: Ueli Bichsel

To the website: The Singing Pilots – and a village is turned upside down. #mce_temp_url#