HE 115 salvation

[Lusekofte]

 

It was pretty complete when taken up in a western fjord in Norway , now it will rest in a bath of fresh water for 4 years before rebuildt 

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Nice find, Luse! The good state of conservation of the aircraft is impressive.

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

Work on this is well underway. You can check their page for progress: http://heinkel115.com/arbeid-pa-8lfh/?lang=en

[Lusekofte]

This plane will never fly again, butthe quality of restoration they do is often with running engine, all though it will not be certified for flight I bet it could when finished. Thank you Stuka. I knew this was lifted up from the sea some years ago. I was not aware it was so long

[xvii-Dietrich]

The work on 8L+FH is a fantastic project. It inspired me to start building a virtual He-115 (which flies, but is still very-much work-in-progress). My only problem with the 8L-FH restoration work is that it is at the opposite end of Scandinavia... otherwise I'd be there every weekend!

[Lusekofte]

You got a point, this rare bird should be moved around the globe after awhile, at least Europe and medeterainian where it served. Norway had two of them in the outbreal of WW2 , when runned over they flew to England aand served a purpose I really cannot remember . So it served in both sides of the war  

[xvii-Dietrich]

Norway had two of them in the outbreal of WW2 , when runned over they flew to England aand served a purpose I really cannot remember . So it served in both sides of the war

 

Two??!?!  They had six at the outbreak of WWII, increasing to eight by the time of the invasion of Norway.

 

 

Norway originally ordered 12 x He-115 A-2. The "A-2" was a copy of the "A-1", but with key items of radio equipment removed to make it suitable for export outside of Germany.

 

Six of the twelve ordered were delivered in the summer of 1939 Two were delivered in 1940, but the remainder were cancelled due to the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.

 

The serial numbers of the first six delivered He-115 A-2s were: F.50, F.52, F.54, F.56, F.58, and F.60. The two delivered in 1940 were F.62 and F.64.

 

 

 

Their fates following the German invasion of Norway were as follows:

 

F.50 flew to Rovaniemi, Finland. Fought for the Ilmavoimat (Finnish airforce) in the continuation war, with LLv15 and LLv46.

       It ditched in July 1943 and the crew were captured. It was destroyed in the water by Finnish fighters to prevent it being

       captured by the soviets. (Finland also used two other He-115s, but there were obtained from Germany.)

 

F.52 first flew to Northern Norway, but was then evacuated to Scotland (01-May-1940)

 

F.54 attempted to be evacuated to England, however it was forced to land, and the crew set it on fire to destroy it.

 

F.56 evacuated to England

 

F.58 I do not know for sure, but I deduce that it was also evacuated to England

 

F.60 was captured by the Germans during the invasion

 

F.62 abandoned in Norway in non-flying condition

 

F.64 evacuated to England, used for covert operations

 

 

Three of those that made it to Great Britain (F.52, F.56 and probably F.58) were used by the RAF with British markings. They had squadron codes BV184, BV185 and BV186.

 

The fourth (F.64) was given fake German markings and used by the RAF for covert operations. It's RAF squadron code was BV187.

 

 

 

Reference: M. Forslund, "Torped Flyget"

[Lusekofte]

Ok this I did not know, I heard about the one in covert ops, but I read it so long ago that I was not sure. Thx for the info