I visited the Finnish Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski this summer and saw the Brewster. They have an excellent web page where you can take a virtual tour here http://www.airforcemuseum.fi/flash.asp?file=2

Regards
archieraf

[QUOTE=’568 crew;1480386]:DI’m a keen story writer, unfortunately no one has given me feedback on any of them. So… the next best thing is to attach them to this post and let everyone read them.

There are three stories, none are complete and all have gaps.
Reviews, hints, ideas and tips welcome!!!![/QUOTE]

Firstly, congratulations on getting your ideas down on the page instead of keeping them in your head, and secondly well done for being brave enough to share.

One suggestion I will make is that you might like to consider breaking the text up a bit into paragraphs etc to make it easier for others to read.

I’ll confess that I started on the first two but found it terribly hard reading such large blocks of text – but that may just be me.

Good luck and don’t give up.
archieraf

Some scenic views on the west coast of Scotland in early June 2009:-

Andy/Tangmere1940 I tried to send you a PM but your box is full. Could you please drop me a mail (address via my profile or via my website) when you have a mo.

Many thanks
Linzee

Icare9, I can’t get the link you posted to work.

Some ideas. Firstly, if the ring of one of the crew was returned to relatives 3 years after the war then it does as you suggest imply that something of the crew must have been found. It is possible that it was discovered during investigations by the Missing Research Enquiry Service (MRES) which was a branch of the RAF set up after the war to search for the airmen overseas who had not returned. Anyone interested in learning more about MRES should read ‘Missing Believed Killed’ by Stuart Hadaway.

Trying to locate MRES files here in the UK is hopeless. The door is closed. Best hope is that there was an Australian or a Canadian on the crew as they have much better access to WWII personnel records which could have some of the MRES documentation relating to the loss/crew in them.

You should get someone to order full copies of the Service Record from the Canadian Archives for the airman Miliken from Canada. They could throw some light on the situation.

Also try posting your request for info over on RAF Commands forum as there are some very good researchers over there and maybe someone has already looked in detail at this loss in the past.

Good luck.

Linzee

For Operation Paravane in September 1944 10 617 Sqdn Lancaster III with Merlin engines built under licence by the Packard Motor Company in Detroit flew to Russia (the others were Lancaster I and I’m not sure what type of engine they had). In addition, there were a couple of Liberators from 511 Sqdn which carried spares for the Lancs, including a Merlin engine in each. 9 Squadron were also in Russia with Lancasters at that time but I don’t know what type.

Also, I know that there were some PRU Spitfires delivered to Russia at some point.

Sorry not to have an exact answer for you but maybe the above will help someone narrow things down or eliminate some of the above.

Regards
Linzee

Try this one for size? 😉

http://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/jonsvatnet2.html

With thanks to Morten Moe in Norway I can provide some additional information regarding the amazing escape of the surviving crew of Liberator AM924. Most of the information below comes from an account written in a local history book from Lofoten Islands, some additional details have been added in brackets by Morten to help with locations etc). The article was in Norwegian but Morten read it out in English for me to transcribe but hopefully we have it as correctly as possible. It is lengthy but I didn’t want to chop it down since it is quite an amazing story.

See for yourselves:

Regards
Linzee

The aircraft was shot down over Lofoten Islands on 28th May 1942.

The aircraft was a Liberator with a 7 man crew, serial AM924. It had been on a reconnaissance mission looking for Tirpitz. After take off from Stornoway in Scotland at 0500 hrs the navigator had led the aircraft safe over the North Sea to the Røst (south of Lofoten) where it turned north towards North Cape. The reconnaissance mission was unsuccessful; they could find no sign of Tirpitz. On the way back it was decided to cross over the Lofoten islands to search in the West fjord (a large fjord west of Bodø). Suddenly the British airmen became aware of three German Me109’s and an air battle commenced over Hellsegga by the notorious Moskenesstraumen current on the southern tip of the Lofoten islands. The allied aircraft turned west heading for Shetland while it tried to go steadily lower closer to the surface of the sea to avoid the gunfire from the German fighters. AM924 was hit several times and shrapnel and bullets penetrated the hull. During the first attack, the tail gunner, Brian Smith was killed and John Pickering took his place. He hit one of the German planes but was himself later hit by a bullet in his arm. The third air gunner, Edwin Allgood was also killed during the attack. When the German planes broke off the attack the Liberator continued on its course flying at approx 100m above the sea they discovered that there was a fire in the bomb bay. During the air battle the rudder was damaged too and the aircraft was very difficult to control. Eventually they had to ditch in the sea west of Moskenessøy (the southernmost major island in the Lofoten), and the crew got into the dinghies after having fought their way out of the sinking wreck. At that point, one of the German planes with Unteroffizier Robert Merkl in the cockpit had returned to its base in Bodø because his cockpit windscreen had been sprayed with oil from the allied plane. Merkl claimed that AM924 had been shot down.
(Merkl was killed later in the war, when his Focke Wulf 190 flew into the cliffs above Gautungdalen, north of the Sognefjord Info: http://ktsorens.tihlde.org/flyvrak/geitebotnfjell.html )

Four out of the seven crewmembers on AM924 survived. The fire caused by the German planes had seriously burnt Sgt Culnane who died from these injuries 24 hours later. His body was left in one of the dinghies the airmen had used after removing all identificating items from him. The naked and badly burned body was later found drifting in the dinghy in West fjord.

Out of the four survivors, Ray Walten, Terry Corkran, Booker & Pickering, Pickering had suffered wounds from the German bullets but he was not seriously injured. The airmen were desperately paddling trying to get to mainland Norway. After two days at sea they were discovered by a fishing vessel and they were taken in tow to a place called Tuv (on the eastern shore of the Lofoten-tip) by Einar & Inge Ingebrigtsen from Reine who had been fishing in the Moskenesstraumen current. Only two people were living at Tuv at that time, Johan Larsen and his wife Laura. They took care of the airmen but after a week there were rumours that the Germans had started an investigation after discovering the naked body of Sgt Culnane in the dinghy, and suspecting that there was a connection between the air battle a week before. A German patrol boat which was stationed nearby started to patrol much more frequently in the area. Johan and Laura naturally enough were worried for the safety of the airmen and it was decided to take them over the mountains to a place called Refsvika – a bay on the outer side of Lofoten. Here the airmen borrowed a boat and after having been helped to plan their escape route by Torolf Refsvik (who knew a little English) which would lead through Vesterålen and Ofoten and then over to Sweden, they started rowing in a NE direction along the western shore of the Lofoten islands. The airmen, unfamiliar with the local conditions soon became exhausted and as they approached Gimsøya in Vågan they simply had to go ashore on a skerry on the northern side of the island and exhausted and cold they pulled the boat ashore and after tipping it upside down they went to sleep underneath it.

Luck was still with the airmen. A boat from Refsvik was on it’s way home from Finnmark and one of the men onboard – Oskar Refsvik – recognised his own boat upside down on the skerry! He went ashore to investigate and thus the boat and the airmen were taken back to Refsvik once again! At that stage, brothers Sigurd and Leif Hamran came into the story. They had observed the air battle over Hellsegga and now they were told about the airmen by the man who had found them on the skerry Gimsøya. The Hamran brothers decided that it would be far too risky for the airmen to attempt to escape in a rowing boat, and they decided to help them. They had relatives in Beiarn (on the mainland south of Bodø) and they knew several people from Beiarn who were fishing from some of the small villages on Lofoten. The brothers believed that the best solution would be to get the airmen over to Beiarn and from there over to Sweden. In addition the brothers knew people in Beiarn who assisted people in reaching Sweden and since they too often used to go to Beiarn on fish trading business they could go there without causing suspicion. Between Mosskenessøya and Beiarn is the West Fjord and to get to Beiarn they would have to pass not far from Bodø airfield. The first thing the Hamran brothers did was to find a safer place to hide the airmen. A place where it was easy to get to them with supplies without causing suspicion. The place they found was a scree area, Tindsura, a bit west of Å. In Tindesura there is a cave which is invisible from the sea, here the airmen were installed with food supplies and warm clothes after the Hamran had collected them from Refsvik in their vessel MK Hans. Now for the airmen it was only a matter of being patient while the snow in the mountains thawed and the brothers organised their escape. Leif and Siguard visited the airmen every third day bringing the airmen supplies, neither Leif or Siguard could speak English and it was a tough time for the airmen as they were not able to communicate and they were unsure about what lay in store for them. The brothers had problems getting enough supplies and they contacted the teacher in the area, Miss Lie. She helped them to get supplies for the airmen and also helped with the communication. The local nurse, Sister Mary, was also involved as she had to take care of Sgt Pickerings wounded arm. After about one month staying in the cave the time had come for the airmen to continue on their dangerous escape route. Sigurd and Leif came with their boat with 1500 kilos of frozen fish onboard. The fish was to be their excuse for the trip as they were to exchange it for firewood. It was a nice summers day and the airmen were placed in the cargo hold and the vessel set course over West fjord for Beiarn. Everything went smoothly until they approached Helligvær – a small group of islands west of Bodø – they set course between the skerries to get as much distance between themselves and Bodø as possible. When they were half way through the skerries they were approached by a German plane and a guard boat who signalled to them several times. The brothers went full speed with the boat and at once the guard boat turned away and left them. Afterwards they were informed that the stretch of water they had gone through was mined and they realised that was what the Germans had been trying to inform them. They arrived safely with the airmen at Tverrvika in Beiarn (near the head of the Bejarnfjord). Sigurd rowed ashore in the dinghy to find help. While he was away, Leif and the airmen got the shock of their lives. Wilhelm Tverrvik had discovered that there was a Moskenes boat in the bay and eager to have a chat with people from the same area as himself he rowed out to the vessel! When the airmen heard someone walking on the deck they dived down into the cargo in an attempt to hide themselves. They did not succeed. Wilhelm was very suspicious when Lief tried to explain that it was only some youngsters who were shy of meeting new people. Wilhelm suspected that it was not the truth but he did not say anything.

With the assistance of Sigmund Berntsen, Hans Rengågord, Trygve Blåmoli, William Øverness and interpreter Martin Larsa – and after a hearty farewell with the Moskenes brothers – the airmen eventually got over the Swedish border to safety.

The rumours had flourished during the time the airmen were in Mosskenes, illustrated by the fact that the local policeman, Laurits Hansen, later was arrested for not having informed the Germans about the rumours.

Source: Lofotboka – a yearbook for the local Lofoten historical society. With additional details of locations by Morten Moe.