New Question about a B3+JM of 4./KG54 force landed 21.4.40 in Sweden

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

With the mystery solved about the photos of B3+JM that belly landed at Ostende, Belgium, on 2.6.40, this raises another question for me. I'm trying to locate photos of the aircraft previously coded as B3+JM that landed out of fuel on 21.4.40 on the Island of Gottland, Sweden, with the crew being interned. Apparently the crew was released and the plane was returned to Germany in June, 1940. Can anyone help me locate photos of that aircraft? I have images of it taken of it in Germany before it was lost, but need any existing photos of it in Sweden after the 21.4.40 incident.

Thanx in advance for any help.

[Nick Beale]

There are three photos of the belly-landed B3+JM in Bo Widfeldt's "Luftwaffe in Sweden 1939-45" (Monogram, Boylston Mass., 1983). ISBN 0-91 4144-28-6

[F19Gladiator]

Information on B3+JM and B3+CM landing on Gotland, and B3+LM on Bornholm 21.04.1940 can be also are found in:
1.
”Nödlandning” (eng.”Emergency landing”), p.14+15, Bo Widfeldt / Rolf Wegmann, Air Historic Research, 1998, ISBN 91-971605-6-3. Swedish text
2.
“Nödlandning Sverige”, P.14+15, Bo Widfeldt / Rolf Wegmann, Air Historic Research, 1991, ISBN 91-971605-0-4. Swedish text
3.
“Tyska Nödlandare 1939-1945”, P.27-29, Bo Widfeldt, Air Historic Research, 2007, ISBN 91-975467-4-7. Swedish text

Two articles with pictures have been published in Svensk Flyghistorisk Tidskrift 1/01 and 4/01, the member magazine of the Swedish Aviation Historical Society. Swedish text only.

The article in the 4/01 SFT issue is the most detailed description on these landings, a day when three 4. /KG 54 He 111 became lost over Sweden, whereof two landed on the island of Gotland, Sweden, and one on the island of Bornholm, Denmark. It also describes how the pilots were exchanged with a Swedish Air Force B 3 (Ju 86) which had to land in Northern Germany after experiencing engine problems. (I personally have met one of the SwAF crew on the Ju 86 in the early 1970s, who described his memories from the time in Germany)

The three 4./KG 54 Heinkel P-1s took off from Aalborg in Denmark to bomb the railroad between Steinkjaer-Trondheim, could not find the target due to cloud overcast and lost their orientation. Wrong information on wind directions contributed to that they ended up over Sweden and the events which followed.

I do not have time now to translate all the info, but if someone has a special interest, contact me via a PM..

It can be worth mentioning that on the same day another He 111 P-1 W.Nr. 2515, from 5./KG 54 was forced down by an obsolete SwAF S 5A reconnaissance float plane together with AAA assistance at Brenäs near Kungälv on the Swedish West coast. The crew destroyed the aircraft by putting it on fire after the landing. The wreck was returned to Germany 09.11.1940 by railroad (Source 3. above)
(The S 5A was a modified Heinkel 5b (to He 5/t) license built in Sweden with a Bristol Jupiter VI with a top speed of 210Km/h!)

This day another unidentified German aircraft is supposed to have disappeared over the big lake Vänern, supposed to have crashed, after Swedish AAA fired at it after passing over Vargön. (Source 3. above)

Fighting was still ongoing in Norway why many violations of the Swedish airspace occurred during this period and many aircraft were fired upon by Swedish AAA. The home land of the famous 40mm Bofors AAA gun, which was used by several nations during and after WW2, was not completely risk free to pass over.

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

From "The Luftwaffe in Sweden 1939-1945".

Photo caption for photo of B3+JM has Ready for flight again It was flown via Roma airbase back to Germany by four Luftwaffe officers including the first two to be interned in Sweden, Rabenau and Grosse, with two of the original crew.
The German markings were overpainted white circles.
Cannot tell if the side codes were overpainted. There is a nice profile of the a/c in Luftwaffe colours on page 73.

Alex

[F19Gladiator]

From what I can conclude from the pictures, only the German insignia were painted over and not the code letters. Also the following supports this as the national insignia were only covered temporarily:

The aircraft was flown in this configuration and with a minimum of fuel load in order to be able to take off from the small airfield at Visborgs Slätt. The destination was the larger field at Roma, under escort of two RSwAF J9 fighters (Seversky EP-1). The German insignia had probably been painted over to avoid being fired at by the Swedish AAA again.

When the Heinkel took off from Roma with destination Germany, the German insignia were again visible as they had beeen restored. Supposedly a temporary washable paint had been used. As the aircraft was to be escorted by RSwAF fighters out to international air space it was considered unlikely that the Swedish AAA would use it as "target practise".The AAA unit commanders on the island had now been informed about the planned transfer flight to Germany.

At this time heavy fighting was still ongoing in Northern Norway, particularly around Narvik and the Swedish armed forces had been placed in highest alert on May 18 after Germany repeatedly had requested to transport war materiel as well as personnel through Sweden to Norway, which was rejected, why any German aircraft passing over Swedish territory was fired at (Anything deemed non-Swedish for what that matters!)
It was also considered important that the aircraft would be properly identified as German when reaching the German coast to avoid any misunderstanding in that end.
At 13.05 local time the Heinkel took off for Germany.

It is important to remember that these events took place in connection with that a Swedish B 3 (Ju 86) which had made an emergency landing in Germany was exchanged together with it's crew, with the Heinkel and crew. This involved an intense diplomatic activity in order to solve the situation.

Sources:
Svensk Flyghistorisk Tidskrift 4/2001. Article by Curt Jacobsson.
Svensk Flyghistorisk Tidskrift 1/2001. Article by Lars Gibson.
The Luftwaffe in Sweden 1939-1945, Bo Widfeldt, Monogram, 1983.