NORWEGIAN SPITFIRE

Battles above the Channel and beyond

- BY CLIVE ROWLEY, MBE RAF (RETD.)

FOR A BRIEF PERIOD at the end of 1944, Spitfire Mk IX PV181-the personal aircraft of Norwegian Oberstløytnant (Lieutenant Colonel) Rolf Arne Berg, the commander of 132 (Norwegian) Wing-was painted in colorful pre-war-style Norwegian markings. The RAF hierarchy objected, however, insisting that they be removed and the standard British national markings reinstated.

In 2017, the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation leased Spitfire Mk IX RR232 and repainted it in Berg's unique, short-lived scheme for a similarly brief three-week tour of air shows in Norway.

This is the story of the littleknown Norwegian pilots who escaped Nazi-occupied Norway to fly Spitfires with the RAF during WW II, and of Rolf Arne Berg in particular.

Norway invaded

Before WW II, the small number of military aircraft operated by Norway were divided between the Norwegian Army Air Service and the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. With increasing tensions in Europe in the 1930s, Norway attempted to modernize and enlarge its air services by acquiring 12 Gloster Gladiator biplanes from the UK, and later ordering 24 Curtiss P-36 Hawk 75A-6s from the U.S. However, the Hawks had only just arrived and were not combat-ready, with many still in crates, when Germany invaded neutral Norway on April 9, 1940.

Britain deployed naval, air and ground units to defend Norway, and the Norwegian military also fought against the German invaders on the ground and in the air, with their few outclassed Gladiator biplanes claiming several Luftwaffe aircraft shot down, but it was all too little too late. By June 8, 1940, all British forces had withdrawn. The Germans had gained full control of Norway, whose mainland forces capitulated on June 10, and a five-year Nazi occupation began. After the withdrawal of the Allied forces, the Norwegian Government evacuated to the United Kingdom to set up a government in exile.