[ChrisM]

Sorry, Franek, but I thought that was correct - "son of flak". Can you put me right please?

Thanks for your response, Chris............I think there is little doubt that the pilot bringing into Fornebu a Ju-52 and a plane load of equipment and ground crew is the Flakowski who later acted as a bomber pilot in the Battle of Britain and the night bombing on England. The man interviewed in connection with the latter is stated by Flannery to have been previously honoured for his exploits on that occasion. And if he were in fact bringing in I/ZG76 personnel and equipment would it be a mere coincidence that he later appears in II/KG76?

What I don’t know, and perhaps you can advise me, is how unusual it would be for a pilot of a wholly different Geschwader to be involved in something like this; whether a bomber pilot would ever have been co-opted into a role of this type; and/or whether it would have been unusual for a Ju-52 pilot to have transferred to medium bomber duties – and in a responsible role - at this early stage of the war.

There is a dramatic description of the Oslo incident in a Spanish forum (not surprisingly written in Spanish, but I imagine based on an original German or English source) mentioning Flakowski and a number of other Luftwaffe personnel. (…..El capitán Flakowski, profesor de vuelo instrumental del I Grupo de la 76 Escuadra de Caza Pesada……..) I’m clearly wrong in assuming that the ground crew was of I/KG76. I/ZG76 is as you state much more likely, in that there seem to be Me-110s already on the airfield and the arrival of mechanics appears to have been a source of rejoicing. (On reflection, ‘Caza Pesada" means literally I think ‘heavy hunting or chasing").

But it still doesn’t explain to me how or why someone who might belong to one Geschwader is involved in a transport operation on behalf of another and only two or three months later is commanding some sort of bomber group over England. All I am confident about is that it is the same man in each case.

Please tell me if I am talking rubbish (as will no doubt Franek) or asking stupid questions – I probably am!

Chris