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Old 17th June 2012, 15:39
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Re: Heinkel He 115 WNr 2398 emerges from the sea near Stavanger

The post from eknutson contains most of the history of this aircraft.
In a report dated 07.05.1940, the E-Stelle (See) Travemünde list this aircraft with Stammkennzeichen BH+AM. It was built by Henkel Rostock as a He 115B aircraft and was used by the E-Stelle for torpedo trials and float testing. At some point after May 1940, W.Nr. 2398 was transferred to Chef AW (Chef des Ausbildungswesens) and allocated to Flugzeugführerschule (See) 2 Pütnitz. that on 01.01.1941 was redesignated Flugzeugführerschule C 17 in Pütnitz. Due to shortage of He 115 aircraft for the front units, some aircraft including W.Nr. 2398, were pulled out from training units and transferred to Luftzeug Amt (See) and brought up to front standards with the designation He 115B/C in late August 1942. For W.Nr. 2398 this included the installation of a fixed forward firing 20 mm Hispano-Suiza MK404 under the nose, as well as two fixed rearward firing Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 17, one in each engine nacelle. The aircraft was then issued to Küstenfligerestaffel 1./906 in Billefjord North Norway in the autumn of 1942. Due to losses the unit was ordered to transfer to Stavanger Sola (See) in early December 1942. On 28.12.1942 W.Nr. 2398, now with the unit code 8L+FH, was lost during landing at its base in Hafrsfjord (Stavanger-Sola) with tail-wind. The left float cut into the water causing the struts to collapse. The plane then capsized and sank shortly after. However, no casualties were reported in connection with this accident.
One float and engine, together with most of the armament was salvaged.
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