455 Sqn Action in Norway, 7 April 1945

[Steve Brew]

I am trying to find some information for a colleague, who would like to find reports from the Luftwaffe Staffel involved in an attack on a lone Beaufighter in Norway. These are the details he provided to me:

Beaufighter X, UB-G, of 455 sqn RAAF was attached to Coastal Command and based at Dallachy, Scotland. On 7 April 1945, it had attacked a cargo ship”Oldenburg” in a Norwegian Fjord and on departure was set upon by five or six FW190s being a mix of A3s and A8s from 9/JG5 based at Herdla near Bergen. A running battle ensued and the Beaufighter crew believed it managed to damage one of the FW190s with the .30 calibre. They managed to escape by flying an arms length from the cliffs of the Fjord which he thinks was Sogne Fjord, though heavily damaged, and crash landed back at base without serious injury. The pilot was WO Ian Murray and Flt Sgt Don Mitchell, who both ended the war as Flying Officers. Murray is still alive.

The question is whether Combat Reports or other reports have survived from 9/JG5 concerning the action?

Thanks
Steve

[Chris Goss]

Combat reports are like Hens Teeth and would be even rarer at this time of the war. Furthermore as this aircraft did not crash it is unlikely that a report would have been written. However you never know......

[Jim P.]

Per Mombeek, JG 5 lost one pilot on that day. Seems a likely suspect.:

FW 190A-, , Tergl, Fhr. Ernst, , II., 5., JG 5, , , , , 07-Apr-45, KIA due to Luftkampf., , Komm.Gen.d.Dt.Lw.i.Norwegen, Mombeek, Eismeerjäger, Vol.IV, p.253, , Sognefjord, 100%, F, , ,

[andy bird]

Hi Steve,

Have the following copy written by Hector Bolitho for Saturday, April 7th 1945:

"Six Fw.190's intercepted 455/G over Sogne Fjord from starboard beam and astern but all other Beaufighters managed to evade and return to base.
Combat ensued at heights of 25 to 200 feet over mountains for ten minutes. 300 rounds of tracer fired.

Pilot managed to remain in control of battle damaged Beaufighter across North Sea.

However 455/G was so badly damaged that the pilot had to crash land, fortunately without injury to the crew."

Hope this helps ? Have more if required but only this relating to 455/G.

Kind regards & Happy Easter

Andy Bird

[Steve Brew]

Thanks Chris, Jim and Andy,

I appreciate the additional information, and will pass this on. Thanks for taking the time to type it up.

Interesting that the Beaufighter's claim of damaging one FW190 may have actually brought the aircraft down.

Thanks
Steve

[Ota Jirovec]

Hello Steve,

Please note that also the Mustang escorts of No. 65 Squadron RAF claimed 2-0-1 Fw 190s (2 destroyed were by F/Lt G.S. Pearson, whose Combat Report can be downloaded on the National Archives website) over Sogne Fjord at around 1615 hours of 7 April 1945. It is equally possible (and possibly more likely) that Tergl was shot down in combat with Mustangs.

Hope this helps,

Ota

[Steve Brew]

Thansk Ota

Sorry for the belated response

Regards
Steve

[Bergen]

I have been doing some research about this battle, as F/Lt Watt´s final crash site is unsolved.

I have been in contact with Halvor Sperbund, and he has given me the following details as of the Luftwaffe pilots:

Staffelkapitän 9. Staffel, Oberleutnant Werner Gayko.
He wrote in his private logbook 7. april 1945:

"Alarmstart Herdla 16.04 - 1725. M.F. (betyr Mit Feindberhürung) 20 Beaufighter u. Mustang."

No records are available ref H. Sperbund


F/Lt Pearson shot down both FW 190´s.
He first approached the incoming formation of FW 190´s, got hits on E. Tergl and followed him to ground level where he had a long turn battle before he managed to shoot him down.
Just after this kill, he spotted W Opitz, who had had a combat with another Mustang or possible a Beau ?. W. Opitz had engine trouble and almost crashed in a water.
He managed to restart his engine, pulled up and suffered a hit from a 4 second long burst from Pearson who had closed in on him.
Both pilots died in the plane, on crash site.

The Beaus where flying extremely low in their escape.
I have been interviewing eyewitnesses who told me that they where seeing them underneath them in the hills, whilst standing on their doorstep.

Are there anyone who knows about any pilots of the RAF 65 sqd that participated in this mission still being alive ?

[Steve Brew]

Thanks Bergen

Have PM'd you.

Regards
Steve

[flyvrak]

Have a few pictures from Opitz crash site here:
http://tihlde.org/~ktsorens/flyvrak/leirvik.html
Sorry it's in Norwegian only. The picture of the small lake is where Tergl's plane went down. Both crash sites are quite close to each other.

Regards Kjell