German losses at Sola on 17 April 1940

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

On 17 April 1940, during operation "Duck", Sola airfield was attacked both by the Royal Navy (HMS Suffolk) and the RAF.

The attack was started by a Hudson that dropped flares and incendiary bombs on the airfield, one setting fire to a Ju 52 of Stab KG 30 that was destroyed.

The bombing by HMS Suffolk missed the airifield but hit the adjacent seaplane station. Here 4 He 115 of 1./KüGr 106 were destroyed (all sources agree) and KGzbv 108 lost either 4 He 59s, or 5 He 59s and 1 Bv 138 depending of the sources.
Regarding the above losses, I have also found that three He 115 (WNr 1878, 1898 and 2087) are shown on the http://historisches-marinearchiv.de website as being heavily damaged this day at Stavanger (probably meaning Sola) but were repaired and later used. None of my other sources show damaged He 115 in this attack, and I suspect that at least three of the four He 115 listed as destroyed were repaired, maybe after being raised from the bottom of the sea.

Can someone confirm this ? And give details about the losses of KüGr 106 and KGzbv 108 this day ?

Once the Suffolk had left, according to the website http://www.world-war.co.uk/duck.php3, 12 Blenheims of 107 Sqn attacked the airfield and 1 Bf110C from 1./ZG 76 and 1 Ju52 were destroyed and 2 ground personnel killed.

In the loss list available for luftwaffe in Norway, the only Ju 52 lost in Sola this day is the one destroyed before by the Hudson, and a Bf 110 C of 1./ZG 76 was damaged beyond repair at Sola, but in a take-off accident, not by bombs. So I suspect that the losses listed in the link above for the Blenheim attack did not happen. Can someone confirm this, and that this raid killed 2 groundcrew (or were they killed during the shelling by Suffolk) ?

Thanks in advance