Former WWII pilot flew Nazi leader to captivity

NewsOK: Former WWII pilot flew Nazi leader to captivity
MISSOULA, Mont. — Capt. Bo Foster had an extraordinary mission: Fly Nazi leader Hermann Goering to the 7th Army’s headquarters for interrogation.

It was May 9, 1945, the day after World War II ended in Europe. Goering, Foster and officers from the Army’s 36th Infantry Division gathered on an airstrip outside Kitzbuhel, Austria, to transport the war prisoner back to Germany in a two-man reconnaissance plane.



Mayhew “Bo” Foster Brigadier General, Montana National Guard

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Former WWII pilot flew Nazi leader to captivity
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In Nuremberg, Hermann Goering was found guilty of war crimes. Sentenced to hang, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule.
“They wanted to get him back where he could be debriefed,” Foster said. “He just acted as though it was a nice, friendly trip.”

Mayhew “Bo” Foster, now 99 and living in a Missoula nursing home, recently recounted his rare encounter with one of the most wanted Nazi leaders. Foster later became brigadier general of the Montana National Guard and was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his World War II service, but it was this mission that stood out as the highlight of his military career.

Goering, 52, had surrendered to the U.S. Army’s 36th Infantry Division the day before, and was now being delivered to Foster for transport.

Foster, then 33, said he didn’t fear getting shot down or Goering trying to wrest control of the aircraft away from him.

The main problem, Foster said, was getting the two of them off the ground. Goering weighed 300-plus pounds, and the nimble, lightweight Piper L4 that Foster piloted in his artillery spotting missions wouldn’t support both him and Goering.

They’d have to upgrade to an L5, a slightly larger aircraft Foster hadn’t flown in years.

Goering settled into the back seat, and when the seat belt wouldn’t stretch across his belly, he held the strap in his hand, looked at Foster and said, “Das goot!” — that’s good.

The two men spent the 55-minute flight from Kitzbuhel to Augsburg, Germany, conversing in a mix of German and English.

“He acted as though he was going on a sightseeing tour, or really as though I was going on a sightseeing tour and he was showing me where he grew up,” Foster said.

He described Goering as sharp, friendly and witty, even cracking a joke when Foster asked him when Germany began manufacturing jets.

“Too late,” Goering replied.

There was just a single jeep at the airstrip to meet the arriving flight. Foster rode with Goering to the gates of the 7th Army Headquarters and formally turned him over to the intelligence officer without ceremony.

Sixty-five years later, Foster is trim, sharp and carries himself as a former military officer.

He still reflects on his rare insight into the Nazi leadership, and he recognizes that the experience had shifted his perceptions of the enemy. It allowed him to see the human side of those he had only known as caricatures.