Lt. Gen. Werner Christie R.No.A.F.

[Stein Meum]

Lt. Gen. Christie died on 29th Dec. 2004,aged 87.
He was one of the leading Norwegian aces.He later commanded 234 Sqn,flying Mustangs,becoming only the second Norwegian to command an RAF Sqn (apart from the Norwegian ones).Likewise,he became the second Norwegian to become a Wingco flying when he took command of 150 Wing at Andrews Field in early 1945.He then went to Hunsdon to command that field's Mustang Wing.
He had to abandon his Mustang near Handorf,Germany and spen the last month or so of WW2 as a POW.
He remained in the R.No.A.F. after the war,rising to high rank and ended his carreer as Commander of the North Norwegian Air Command.

Stein

[Frank Olynyk]

Stein,

Very sorry to learn of Gen. Christie's death. Do you know where he died? And was there an obituary published online, in English or Norwegian?

Frank.

[Knut Larsson]

Stein

Sad news. he was a gentlemsn to the end.

By the way who Norwegians became Wingco flying in RAF other than in Norwegian units.

Regards

Knut

[Stein Meum]

Christie died at home.A stroke a couple of years ago linked him to a wheechair.So far,I have not seen any obituary.There will be at least a couple I think.He was also President of the Norwegian Red Cross for several years.

Knut: The only other Norwegian to reach Wing Commander rank was Erik Haabjørn.He commanded 124 (Typhoon) Wing in 1944.

Stein

[vingtor]

Stein,

Do you know if Christie flew any Mustangs with personal code, as was common practice for Wing Commanders? There were a Vampire and a Thunderjet with his initials in Norway in the 50's though.

Nils Mathisrud

[Stein Meum]

Originally Posted by vingtor

Stein,

Do you know if Christie flew any Mustangs with personal code, as was common practice for Wing Commanders? There were a Vampire and a Thunderjet with his initials in Norway in the 50's though.

Nils Mathisrud

Yes,he flew a Mustang Mk. III when commanding 150 Wing coded "WHC".
Commanding the Hunsdon Wing,he flew a Mustang Mk. IVa (P-51K),also coded "WHC".On the Mustang Mk. IVa,the code was located forward of the roundel.On the Mk. III there are conflicting reports of "WH-roundel-C and WHC as on the Mk. IVa.There were a couple of Polish squadrons on 150 Wing,maybe Franek can contact some of the surviving members of these squadrons to see if they can remember which lay-out is correct for the Mk. III?

Stein

[vingtor]

Thanks Stein,

Do you know the serial numbers as well ??

It would be interesting to make decal sheets for these aircraft, but then I would need some more details, preferably photos.

Nils

[Stein Meum]

No photos nor any serial on the Mk. III.

I have seen a photo of Werner in the cocpit of his Mk. IVa.It was published in an article some 20 +/- years ago.Can't remember where or when.The photo had been loaned by Werner to the author but it was never returned,apparently.There's just several empty spaces in his album where the phots had been.
The serial of this machine was KH790.

Stein

[vingtor]

I assume that the Mk.III was camouflaged. As different patterns were used on RAF Mustangs, it would be a wild guess to paint this one.

The Mk.IVa would probably have been bare metal. But one would have to guess the colour of the letters (and their placements), colour of the spinner and the placement of the pennant.

Nils

PS. Stein, do you have a new e-mail address? I sent yoy a mail that bounced back.

[Stein Meum]

The Mk. III was camouflaged,the scheme being fairly consistent with published instructions.Basically U.S. DuPont shades of British colours.In some cases the U.S. Gray was repainted with British Ocean Grey.White I.D. stripes on fin and tailplanes.The white was also applied on the nose and spinners but usually overpainted.

The Mk. IVa in the photo I saw was Natural Metal.Codes "WHC" were in black,forward of the roundel,below the sliding canopy.Letters were of the smaller size used by many squadrons.Wingco pennant below the windscreen on the left side of the fuselage.Might have been one on the right side,as well.Serial number below the tailplanes was applied in the "slanted" style found on many RAF Mustangs,i.e. parallel with the ground and not a/c centreline."C"-type upper wing roundels without coloured surround as on 2TAF planes.Wing leading edges were yellow.The nose could not be seen in the photo,but according to Werner,the spinner was red.He first introduced the red spinner as a CO marking when he took command of 234 Sqn,a practice he also used as a wingco.According to Werner,it made his plane a little easier to spot and formate upon after a dogfight or ground attack.

Try steimeum@online.no again.Should work.

Stein