Singing Pilots – and a Village Turned Upside Down

From 1 July to 8 August 2026, an unforgettable open-air theatre experience is coming to Fruitgen: “The Singing Pilots – and a Village Turned Upside Down.” With tickets around 20 CHF, this lively production promises history, humour, romance and drama beneath the summer sky.

The story begins with a remarkable real event: the first B-17 emergency landing in Switzerland that didn’t happen at an airfield, but in a humble potato field in Utzensdorf near Bern. One crew member, engineer John Scott, would later return to marry his sweetheart in Adelboden—a love story born in wartime.

Spring 1943 turned Adelboden upside down. With Swiss men guarding the borders and tourism gone, hotels stood empty and the village felt eerily quiet. Then everything changed overnight. Suddenly, 700 English soldiers and around 600 American airmen—crews from bombers forced down over Switzerland—arrived and filled the silent hotels. The peaceful mountain village found itself buzzing with foreign uniforms, new friendships, unexpected tensions and pockets full of American dollars.
How did locals react? With curiosity, worry, opportunity—and sometimes romance. This open-air spectacle brings those extraordinary years (1943–1945) to life with music, laughter, emotion and heart. Step back in time and discover how one quiet Alpine village became the stage for an unforgettable wartime story.

Visit ​https://freilichtspiele-tellenburg.ch/