Lt. Gen. Werner Christie R.No.A.F.
 

Lt. Gen. Christie died on 29th Dec. 2004,aged 87.
He was one of the leading Norwegian aces.He later commanded 234 Sqn,flying Mustangs,becoming only the second Norwegian to command an RAF Sqn (apart from the Norwegian ones).Likewise,he became the second Norwegian to become a Wingco flying when he took command of 150 Wing at Andrews Field in early 1945.He then went to Hunsdon to command that field's Mustang Wing.
He had to abandon his Mustang near Handorf,Germany and spen the last month or so of WW2 as a POW.
He remained in the R.No.A.F. after the war,rising to high rank and ended his carreer as Commander of the North Norwegian Air Command.

Stein

Stein,

Very sorry to learn of Gen. Christie's death. Do you know where he died? And was there an obituary published online, in English or Norwegian?

Frank.

W/C Werner Hosewinkel 'Christie
 

Stein

Sad news. he was a gentlemsn to the end.

By the way who Norwegians became Wingco flying in RAF other than in Norwegian units.

Regards

:shock: Knut

Christie died at home.A stroke a couple of years ago linked him to a wheechair.So far,I have not seen any obituary.There will be at least a couple I think.He was also President of the Norwegian Red Cross for several years.

Knut: The only other Norwegian to reach Wing Commander rank was Erik Haabjørn.He commanded 124 (Typhoon) Wing in 1944.

Stein

WHC
 

Stein,

Do you know if Christie flew any Mustangs with personal code, as was common practice for Wing Commanders? There were a Vampire and a Thunderjet with his initials in Norway in the 50's though.

Nils Mathisrud

Re: WHC
 

Yes,he flew a Mustang Mk. III when commanding 150 Wing coded "WHC".
Commanding the Hunsdon Wing,he flew a Mustang Mk. IVa (P-51K),also coded "WHC".On the Mustang Mk. IVa,the code was located forward of the roundel.On the Mk. III there are conflicting reports of "WH-roundel-C and WHC as on the Mk. IVa.There were a couple of Polish squadrons on 150 Wing,maybe Franek can contact some of the surviving members of these squadrons to see if they can remember which lay-out is correct for the Mk. III?

Stein

Thanks Stein,

Do you know the serial numbers as well ??

It would be interesting to make decal sheets for these aircraft, but then I would need some more details, preferably photos.

Nils

No photos nor any serial on the Mk. III.

I have seen a photo of Werner in the cocpit of his Mk. IVa.It was published in an article some 20 +/- years ago.Can't remember where or when.The photo had been loaned by Werner to the author but it was never returned,apparently.There's just several empty spaces in his album where the phots had been.
The serial of this machine was KH790.

Stein

I assume that the Mk.III was camouflaged. As different patterns were used on RAF Mustangs, it would be a wild guess to paint this one.

The Mk.IVa would probably have been bare metal. But one would have to guess the colour of the letters (and their placements), colour of the spinner and the placement of the pennant.

Nils

PS. Stein, do you have a new e-mail address? I sent yoy a mail that bounced back.

The Mk. III was camouflaged,the scheme being fairly consistent with published instructions.Basically U.S. DuPont shades of British colours.In some cases the U.S. Gray was repainted with British Ocean Grey.White I.D. stripes on fin and tailplanes.The white was also applied on the nose and spinners but usually overpainted.

The Mk. IVa in the photo I saw was Natural Metal.Codes "WHC" were in black,forward of the roundel,below the sliding canopy.Letters were of the smaller size used by many squadrons.Wingco pennant below the windscreen on the left side of the fuselage.Might have been one on the right side,as well.Serial number below the tailplanes was applied in the "slanted" style found on many RAF Mustangs,i.e. parallel with the ground and not a/c centreline."C"-type upper wing roundels without coloured surround as on 2TAF planes.Wing leading edges were yellow.The nose could not be seen in the photo,but according to Werner,the spinner was red.He first introduced the red spinner as a CO marking when he took command of 234 Sqn,a practice he also used as a wingco.According to Werner,it made his plane a little easier to spot and formate upon after a dogfight or ground attack.

Try steimeum@online.no again.Should work.

Stein

Thanks Stein, this really helps. I think I will try making a profile drawing.

Regarding the red spinner, do you have any ideas whether that would be bright red or dull red (i.e. brown) as on the roundels?

Yellow leading edges on the wings sounds strange on a bare metal aircraft, but it might be correct though.

Nils

The colour would be bright red.
The yellow leading edges were prescribed for all fighter a/c of the RAF,whether camouflaged or not.They are fairly difficult to see on nat.met. a/c and black/white photos.

Stein

P.S. For some reason I'm not receiving notification via e-mail of replies to this topic any more.Your first replies to this topic,Nils,were notified normally,though.

Stein

Extremally few Mk III retained their original US colours. Generally they were overpainted with British paints and it is not possible at the moment to link pattern to serial.
White stripes on fin appeared only for a short period of time in early 1944. I cannot coment on further evolution of recognition markings.
Also spinners are the subject for a lenghty discussion.

Concerning WHC aircraft, I am afraid that nobody would recall such detail like placing of individual codes, nonetheless I do not know any of 316 Sqn pilots of the period anyway. Polish Squadrons are among best photographed, so I will have a closer look if WHC appears there but I am afraid there is only a photo of Christie himself.

By the way, you may check ORBs of 150 Wing Squadrons as they may have recorded a serial for his aircraft.

Best wishes

Stein,

Thank you for sharing this sad news.

On the subject of Norwegian Wing Commanders I know that Rolf Arne Berg was one of them. Other names that come to my mind are Helge Mehre and Jon Ryg but I am not sure of these last two. These three flew with No.132 (Norwegian) Wing.

Kind regards,
Hendrik

Christie's Mustang
 

Hello all.

Sorry to interupt this very interesting discussion, but could you please comment on this rendering of Mustang IVa, WHC, which is based on the description given in this thread? If possible, I'd like to release it as a skin for the flight simulator Il-2 Forgotten battles to commemorate Christie.

http://www.museumsnett.no/midttromsm...ng%20WHC_1.jpg

http://www.museumsnett.no/midttromsm...ng%20WHC_2.jpg

http://www.museumsnett.no/midttromsm...ng%20WHC_3.jpg

http://www.museumsnett.no/midttromsm...ng%20WHC_4.jpg

Sincerely,

Kjetil Aakra

From my general knowledge of RAF markings I can say that the 24" x 24" fin marking is missing. Furthermore the Wingco pennant looks a bit too large.

You have reproduced the olive drab anti-glare area different from standard, check your references :wink:

Otherwise a cice looking aircraft.

Nils

Re: Christie's Mustang
 

Having read Nils' reply since posting,I also think there's something wrong with the Anti-glare panel shape.

Stein

Yes,there were several other Norwegian Wing Commanders but they,including Danish Kai Birksted,commanded the "Norwegian" Spit squadrons.The Norwegian squadrons are outside the scope of my researches which concentrate on the operational carreers of Norwegian aircrew serving in other RAF squadrons than the "Norwegian" ones,i.e. 330,331,332 and 333 Sqns.
The names you mentioned are all correct,but for 331 and 332 Sqns only.

Stein

WHC
 

Thanks for your input, guys.

I'll modify the skin according to your suggestions.

Kjetil

While I agree with the others on pennant and letters I'm not sure if I'd dismiss the all-yellow leading edges...
It seems to me quite a few RAF Mustangs had the yellow extended all the way to the wing fairing. I've done a quick search and can't find any IV's up front but several camouflaged III's show that it was quite common. Could be exclusive to the Mustang III though.

Here's an example:

http://www.frenkenstein.com/ww2/greece/Vass/Vass.htm

Regards,

Kyrre

The yellow leading edges on Mk. I's,Ia's and II often were full-span with individual variations as they were applied at MU and Sqn level.Mk. III's show variations,as well.
Most Mk. IV's were natural metal hence the difficulty in observing them on b&w photos.

The AirBritain series of serial number books contain several good photos of Mk. IV's with visible yellow leading edges.Quite a few of 213 Sqn Mustang IV photos show them,as well.

Stein