BV 138 loss on 16 May 1940 in Norway

[Laurent Rizzotti]

On 16 May 1940, the Bv 138 A-1 WNr 369 of KGzbV 108 was lost in Norway. It landed in the Ranfjord after being hit by AA fire. Two men were killed and the other captured.

The above is common to all my sources but then details differ:

_ the book "Les hydravions de la Luftwaffe vol2" by Roba and Neulen says that it was hit by a British destroyer, took fire and landed. One crew, Flg Bruno Dreyer, tried to fight the flames but was cut from the rest of the crew and lost, probably losing consciousness in the smoke. An Heer observer flying with the crew hurried out of the aircraft but was struck and killed by the central propeller as he went out. Another crew, Ogfr Richard Rosenfeld was wounded. Survivors were captured by Norwegians. The pilot, Uffz Helmut Schuster, was handed to the British and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Canada. Rosenfeld was liberated in an hospital by German troops later and.

_ according to the site of Kjell Sørensen (http://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/alterbukta.html), the flying boat was shot down by British AA-fire at Dalselv (probably a Bofors gun). The A/C was hit in the tail by the third shot. They had to make an emergency landing into the Ranfjord. The left wing touched the water and the flying boat went upside down. Five of the crew managed to climb up on the wing and swam ashore. The pilot, Uffz.Helmuth Schuster, probably drowned inside the aircraft. Shortly after one of the crew members was shot in a fight with Norwegian soldiers, the rest became POWs.

_ the floatplane database at http://www.historisches-marinearchiv.de has the same as above, Uffz Helmuth Schuster and one other crew killed, 3 POW.

I will be interested by a crew list for this aircraft, and their fates.

Thanks in advance

Laurent