Norwegian Vampires honour a member of the 331 Squadron ground crew

A ceremony was held at North Weald Bassett Cemetery on Friday 15 July to dedicate a special seat in the Memorial Garden to Inge Øvstedal, who was one of the 240 unsung heroes of 331 (Norwegian) Squadron at RAF North Weald for nearly two years during World War 2 – the ground crew.

Inge was a regular attendee at the annual Remembrance services at the Norwegian Memorial Stone, and died last December. He remained in Britain after the war and married a British girl, Barbara. He had met her in Bognor Regis just before D-Day, after which he went on to serve across Europe with 2nd Tactical Air Force and was promoted to Sergeant.

Among those who gathered to remember and honour him were his wife Barbara, members of his family, Cyril Hawkins (the Parish Council Chairman) and other parish councillors, Arthur Moreton – the Norwegian Liaison Co-ordinator & Airfield Historian, along with members of the local and Norwegian communities.

During the ceremony, two Norwegian Vampire jets performed a flypast. These had come over to RAF Waddington for the recent air show, and had then parked for several days at North Weald between air show engagements. They departed to the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in Gloucestershire later in the afternoon.

The jets returned the following Monday from Fairford to refuel before their 1 hour 40 minute flight back to Norway.

Off to Fairford

Returning to Norway