The pilot who sank the BJÖNN?
 

Hello.

We have this information from our German colleagues.
On December 9, 1941, a convoy consisting of the ships BJÖNN (5,509 GRT) with a cargo of 9,551 tons of iron ore and EUROSTAD (1,118 GRT), escorted by patrol ships NM 04 and NM 24, left Kristiansund heading south. At 16:05, near Björnsund, off the coast of Hustadvika, the convoy was attacked by a twin-engine aircraft. It glided out of the clouds from the southeast and dropped 6 bombs from a height of about 150 m. BJÖNN received 5 hits and caught fire. The burning ship was abandoned in a stormy sea and sank the next day.

Not one of the British squadrons claimed responsibility for the success of this attack. Theoretically, it could have been 220 or 612 Squadrons of Coastal Command from Wick, but it is possible that it was a Bomber Command aircraft. Please help to identify the squadron that distinguished itself.

Sergey

Re: The pilot who sank the BJÖNN?
 

Our friend Geoffrey Sinclair wish to add the following

The aircraft that sank the BJÖNN was not from Bomber Command, which on 9
December 1941 sent 4 Stirlings on cloud cover raids to Essen, 2 from 7
squadron found a tanker with escort off Holland 5155N 0345E, 1 managed
to drop 16x500 pound bombs claiming near misses.

220 Squadron Coastal Command ORB, 9 December 1941, Hudson T/220 F/S
Stone, Sgt Brown, Sgt Eyre, Sgt Foster, Vaaro patrol, take off 1220,
land 1900, sighted 1 MV and 4 EV estimated 3 probably 4 hits on MV.
In case that is not it:
Coastal Command Weekly report says on 9 December sorties were 10
intelligence (mostly PR and Weather), 5 ocean and 5 coastal convoy
escort, 6 defensive, 4 sea mining and 31 other offensive sorties, 3
aircraft missing. Ross McNeill reports 4 losses, 1 PR Spitfire and 3
Beauforts, 1 in the Bay of Biscay, 1 to a convoy off Holland and 1 from
42 squadron sent to Kristiansund but early in the morning, take 0ff 0550.

The weekly total says 137 out of 191 other offensive sorties were
Hudson, so most probably the attacker was from one of the nine
operational Hudson squadrons. During the week 2 Beaufort, 1 Liberator
and 12 Hudson attacked merchant ships, dropping 7.76 tons of ordnance
but no results are given. On 12 December Coastal Command reports Hudson
squadrons 48, 53, 59, 206, 220, 224, 233, 269, 320, 407 and 608 were
operational, 500 squadron was not.

Re: The pilot who sank the BJÖNN?
 

From the Admiralty War Diary for 9 December 1941:

British Air Operations
Hudsons of Coastal Command today carried out successful attacks against enemy shipping off Alesund and Den Header, four ships being hit or set on fire.

On a later page of the same day's diary:

British Air Operations
6 Bomber Command aircraft attacked targets in NW Germany today, and one claims a direct hit on a tanker in the mouth the Ems. Coastal Command aircraft continued their attacks on shipping off the coast of Norway.

From the diary of the Seekriegsleitung for 9 December:

Norwegian Steamer »Bjoenn« (5,500 GRT) carrying 9,000 tonnes of ore was set on fire by an enemy aircraft in the latitude of Bud. The ship had to be abandoned in view of the stormy weather. 5 Norwegians missing.

Re: The pilot who sank the BJÖNN?
 

Colleagues, thank you.

During the week, 2 Beauforts, 1 Liberator
and 12 Hudsons attacked merchant ships, dropping 7.76 tons of ammunition, but no results are given.

I do not know the dates covered by this report, but in the next few days the following results were recorded off the Norwegian coast alone:
On 3 December the steamship NORDLICHT, loaded with Christmas presents for the troops in northern Norway, was attacked by an aircraft (squadron unknown) near Faistein and was hit by a bomb. The ship reached Stavanger under her own power and was kept afloat by rescue ships. On 4 December the Norwegian steamship VESTRI (490 GRT) was attacked half an hour after leaving Stavanger for Oslo by a single aircraft (squadron unknown), was hit twice by bombs and ran aground where she burned. On 10 December in Rødnefjord the 220th Squadron attacked a "small convoy" and "one ship was hit". On December 14, northwest of Haugesund, aircraft (squadron unknown) sank the trawler TOPAZ (149 GRT) with a cargo of 35 tons of dynamite.
The 42nd, 220th, 320th and 608th squadrons of Coastal Command operated in this area, but the Beauforts often used bombs rather than torpedoes for attacks.