Norwegian Spitfire IX mega pack

[JensOle]

Not sure about costs for postage for books ordered in Norway. Most of they time we are the ones being "ripped off" ordering stuff in the EU and getting it to Norway, not sure how it works sending stuff into EU or other parts of the world. It might be that the books (5 so far) are stocked at some UK aviation book stores as the RAF museum has been involved with research for the books and that books have English Chapter summary with this in mind.

I never know that it existed so many pictures of the Norwegian squadrons from the war, it is literally thousands of them in each volume. They are very well written and are covering everything from all missions, losses, aircraft, everyday life, individual stories, maps, aircraft serial lists, "big events" which are related to the Norwegians etc.

[JensOle]

I'm planning to fly the homecoming flight from Dyce in Scotland via Sola to Gardermoen as the Norwegian Spitfire squadrons made on 22 May 1945. For the flight I have included the 90 gal Slipper tank in the fuel section in the aircraft.cfg file. I have included the entries bellow if any are interested in testing the range of the IX..

external1= -2.1, 0.50, 0.00, 100.00, 0.00 ;//useable fuel Imperial Gallons Converted to US Gallons for FSX

It must have been a very special and emotional moment for the Norwegian pilots seeing the Norwegian coastline come into view for the first time in 5 years of war.

In this youtube film, part 4 of "the RNoAF at war", at 4.50 you can see film of the actual landing at gardermoen;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhjwxrN7Ls4

[DaveB]

Nice link JensOle

ATB
DaveB

[Airspeed]

Hardly understood a word, but I could see their story.
Again, gratitude for their contribution to our freedom.

[Filonian]

Many thanks Jens.

As Mike says, we owe them all a debt of gratitude.

Graham

[JensOle]

We sure do.

I believe the sacrifice and gratitude are much more visible in Britain due to the Battle of Britain (and for Britain it was of course much more of a total war situation). In Norway the history of the air force in world war 2 is little known. Except for the enormous service the Norwegian merchant navy did for the allied fight (I believe Norway had the 3rd largest merchant navy in the world at the start of the war), the air force played an important part with the maritime reccon/ASW squadrons in escorting convois and of course the more offensive 2 Spitfire and Mosquito squadrons. An little known part of the Norwegian/RAF relation was that Norway actually paid for all the equipment/aircraft and services provided by Britain for our squadrons. The same for all aircrew training and salary.

Yesterday I made the homecoming flight from Dyce in Scotland to Sola in Norway, the same as two Norwegian squadrons made on 22 May 1945. Take off at 11.15 with landing at Sola at 13.42, about 2.5 hour with cruise speed of 200MPH at 10.000ft I used 51,23 Gal of fuel. With 90 gal slipper tank I had 202 gal of fuel available and could most likely have reached Gardermoen with that fuel. On the real flight the flight time to sola was 2 hours (and they flew at 6000ft), they probably cruised at a higher speed and burned more fuel. Eager to get home I can imagine.

Spitfire IXe PL187 of No 331 (N) Sqn.

Over the North Sea






The west coast of Norway is coming into view





Stavanger and Sola ahead



Over Stavanger



Landing on rw 36 at Sola

[511Flyer]

We learned a lot from our Holiday tour guide about the suffering of Norwegians during the war, especially when the Germans were withdrawing from Norway. The burning of villages and towns, and the killing of prisoners of war. This was much to the embarrassment of Germans who were on the ship, and they complained loudly. The reaction was "Tough, but we tell it like it was"

I went to Bardufoss a few times when I was in the RAF. Flying troops and equipment in our Hastings during winter exercises.

Thanks for the language lesson Jens.

[511Flyer]

This is the very ship that we sailed in. It's for FSX, but I'm not at all sure how I came by it.





I started at Bodo airport, then had to slew into the water.

[JensOle]

As you say, the Germans were very brutal during their withdrawal from northern Norway. Most towns were completely burnt down and all infrastructure demolished.

I have never sailed with the "Hurtigruten" myself, but they say it gives you a very dramatic view on the Norwegian coastal region. Back in the early post war years it also was a vital transport line for rebuilding the north, nowadays it is mostly about showing tourists the north. My wife wants to go with it, so it will probably happen in the future...lol

As in many other European countries we have had a rather difficult relationship with the Germans after the war, it was a major uprising when the first German NATO officers and aircraft came to Norway in the 1970's.

Bardufoss has been used by British forces for winter training for most of the cold war, and they still continue to come with both army, marine and aviation units. It is something in the saying we have in the Norwegian military; "as long you can survive the winter, you can survive anything". It is all about that the winter magnify the need for the individual to take care of him/her selves in order to survive and that can translate over to any climatic part of the world.