Ball Bearing Run
 

[Buryflier.....He once told me they never carried a single ball bearing - it was mainly people and documents.......]


That's very interesting....I always suspected that the significance of the ball-bearings or 'magnetic freight' as the Swedes called them had been exaggerated over the years. Were types other than the Mosquitoes mentioned in the correspondence?

Flights to Stockholm
 

Great to see the photo of a passenger in the bomb-bay of a Mosquito in one11's Jan 2009 posting and your quote on Niels Bohr. My father often talked of this but I could not visualize the difficult conditions!

My father, Captain Evald Jakobson was an Estonian ship's captain and shipowner who began to move to England from 1935 as he could see the danger of Hitler and/or Stalin taking over the Baltic States. He was established in England in 1939 before WWII broke out and worked with the Ministry of War Transport, dealing primarily with the +-20 Estonian ships which were in British territorial waters and could not or would not return to Estonia due to the Russian occupation.

He was flown up to Stockholm in December 1943 in the bomb-bay of a Mosquito, hence my interest in seeing under what conditions! He talked little of what he was doing in Stockholm where he remained till September 1944. With my brother I am researching what EJJ was doing in Stockholm during this time. The official reason on his Swedish visa application was to sort out various outstanding shipping accounts and other shipping issues but this does not seem suffcient reason to keep someone up there for 9 months. His visa was extended several times as he was ' waiting for a seat on the airplane'. My immediate question is how often were these flights scheduled? Is there a record anywhere of this and who the passengers were?

I note a Mosquito was lost in August 1944. He flew back in September 1944...

Hallo....The Wilson report online PDF has some statistics on the UK-Sweden route,WWII
http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/d...n%20Wilson.pdf

Briefly 1940 ca. 23 return flights (Lo, J)
1941 54 return flights (Lo)
1842 169return flights (Lo, W)
1943 341return flights (Lo, Mo, Da,Lib)
1944 484returnflights (+4 oneway) (Mo,Da, Lib)
1945(1jan-1June) 167 returnflights (Mo,Da)
(Lo=Lockheed 14/18 or Hudson,J=Ju52,W=Whitley,Mo=Mosquito,Da=Dakota, Lib=Liberator)

There is a book called Blockade Runners (Nilsson,Sandberg) mainly Swedish and American activities but some on BOAC, not cheap (originally in Swedish as Kurirflyg)
There have been some articles (e.g. in Aeroplane Monthly) on the UK-Sweden route see your private messages, top right of messageboard
http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib...at=photographs
BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION AND QANTAS, 1940-1945.. © IWM (CH 20958)IWM Non Commercial Licence

BOAC Mosquitos on the "Stockholm Run" & etc
 

For some time now, I have been researching the history of one particular aircraft that was used on the “Stockholm Run” (RAF Leuchars –Bromma Airport ) in World War II. This is Lockheed Lodestar G-AGDD, owned bythe Norwegian government-in-exile, flown mainly by Norwegian crews but operated in the name of BOAC. Lodestar G-AGDD was used on the “Stockholm Run” from August 1941 to July 1945 and was almost certainly the longest -serving aircraft on this route in the war.

I therefore found this thread very interesting and thought I might contribute a little:

1. The WWII logs for Bromma Airport, which are said to be very detailed, are held in the Swedish state archives (Stadsarkiv) but,unfortunately, I have not been able to get there to examine them.

2. There are documents at the National Archives on“BOAC and Transport Command” that cover the WWII period but, again, I have not seen them.

3. The staff at the British Airways Heritage Collection have been very helpful. The detailed information on the “Stockholm run” is in the form of entries on large maps/charts and I was told that they are not easy to handle.

4. The Curtis CW 20 made only 5 return trips on the“Stockholm run”. They took place during the May - September period in 1942.

5. The Whitleys undertook the “Stockholm run” for a relatively short period (9 August - 24 October 1942)

6. Professor Nils Bohr flew in Mosquito G-AGGG,leaving Bromma at approx. 6.30 pm on 6 October 1943 (19 days later, on 25 October 1943,
G-AGGG crashed on landing at Leuchars inbound from Bromma)

7. FLIGHT magazine (4 November 1943) reported that Captain Gilbert Rae and Radio Officer James S. Payne had been awarded the OBE and MBE respectively for “their high courage over an extended period in flying unarmed aircraft on the civil wartime air service between the United Kingdom and Stockholm”.

8. “Gibby” Rae joined the “Stockholm run” in June 1942 and flew seven different aircraft types on the route. He was close friends with Radio Operator James Payne. Just before midnight on 18 August 1944, he took off from Stockholm for Scotland in Mosquito G-AGKP, with Radio Operator Trevor Roberts and passenger Captain Bill Orton, whose own Mosquito had suffered a mishap at Bromma a few days before. On the long approach to Leuchars, in the early hours of 19 August, G-AGKP hit the North Sea waters and sank. The bodies of Roberts and Orton were recovered; that of “Gibby” Rae was not. He was 26 years old. One source says that he and James Payne had flown 150 “Mossie”trips.

9. Mosquito G-AGFV did indeed crash at Bromma on 4July 1944 but was not a write-off. It swung off the runway and its undercarriage collapsed, though perhaps its undercarriage collapsed causing it to swing off the runway. Anyway, it was temporarily repaired, flown back to Leuchars on 23 October1944 and returned to the RAF in 1945. (It was not its first incident on the “Stockholm run”. More than a year earlier, it had arrived at Bromma “riddled” with bullets and, unable to lower its flaps or undercarriage, had crashed).

10. I have one specific reference to Avro Yorks being used on the “Stockholm run” (namely that “The York G-AGJC made at least one special flight to Stockholm in 1944”) but there is no mention of Yorks in the Wilson report, to which someone referred earlier. The information in the Wilson report, while wide-ranging, is not, however, always congruent with that in other sources, which can be confusing.

I remember reading an article in Aeroplane perhaps 10 years ago about the Mosquito missions. If I remember correctly, one VIP being ferried from Sweden to England suffered occasional scares when the bomb bay doors kept opening partially.

panop and yarnsplicer

yOU MAY APPRECIATE the words of "The Living Years" by Mike and the Mechanics. It resonates for me and hope it does for you.

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defense

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So Don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be O.K.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
Songwriters: RUTHERFORD, MICHAEL/ROBERTSON, BRIAN ALEXANDER

Hello IW9,

The BOAC historian Nils Mathisrud is interesting in contacting you.

Is it possible for you to send me a private message and I can put you in contact with him please?

Thanks very much,

mc

Yes of course - I will PM you

Ball Bearing run from Sweden
 

Very interesting chapter in WW2 nostalgia. Have there been any TV or film dramas made, based upon these exploits ?

Msquito flight Bromma Leuchars
 

Since a few years I am doing a quest into the life ofmy eldest brother Henk Mos during WW2.
Henk was forced to work on German merchant ships bythe German occupation authorities between November 1942 and June 1943. On 12June 1943 he escaped from the German ship in Sundvall Sweden. Henk reported to theDutch embassy for a transfer to the UK to join up with the Dutch Armed Forces inthe UK. Depending his transfer he was sent to work in the Swedish woods.
At last, on 28 September 1944 he got his transfer fromBromma Sweden to Leuchars Scotland in the BOAC Mosquito G-AGGC flown by ArthurCarroll, pilot, and John Weir, radio operator. At that time Henk was 20 yearsold.

I learned much from the discussions in your forum onthe BOAC flights between Bromma and Leuchars, but there rest some questions forme.

• About theequipment in the bomb bay.
  1. What kind of aircontrols were fitted?
  2. Were there greenand red lights fitted which gave information about opening the bomb bay doors?
  3. What are thedimensions of the bomb bay?
• About the route.
  1. What was theflight path like heading, height, speed and bomb bay and outside temperatures?
  2. Have Iunderstood rightly that the Mosquito’s always flew the Skagerakroute
• About enemyopposition. What were the threats by flak and fighter aircraft?
• Photographs. Wherecan I find pictures of the G-AGGC in wartime and of the crew members?
• In the pictureyou see from left to right my sister Tiny, Henk and his first wife Laura. The girlshave wings on their jacks. Can anyone tell me which wings these are?

I very much enjoyed the discussions on the forum and I amvery grateful for the information it offered me.

G-AGGC....Captain Carroll etc.
 

Unique BOAC Mosquito Relic emerges................. - Battlefield Relics - WWII Forums
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=g-...JXWd4DDvGpM%3A

Hi Appie WW2 ...Some of the information you seek is in the book 'Blockade Runners' by Nilsson and Sandberg which is an English translation of the Swedish book 'Kurirflyg'. Pp182-185 have text and photos on Carroll and G-AGGC.
The same photo of G-AGGC is in the above link.
I normally have no interest in the collecting of old bits of aircraft but the item linked above impressed me, and certainly looks original!..

Mosquito flight Bromma Leuchars
 

Thank you A30yoyo for the information and the link to the photos. I have no accessto the book 'Blockade Runners'. It is not in any library, including university libraries.

Appie WW2


Do a Google search for "Blockade Runners by Lars Axel Nilsson". There are plenty of copies available to buy (at a price!)

Appie WW2...Do you have anymore recollections or flight souvenirs from your brother. Am I correct that he wasn't VIP (he had waited 15 months in Sweden) so not high priority to fly to the UK (but more important than ball-bearings :-) ).
Some impressions of the Mosquito flight conditions here
RAFCommands Archive :: Researching BOAC Operations and Pilots

Interesting that he was carried on a single passenger Mosquito when the Sonnie airlift from Stockholm to the UK using 30-passenger Liberators had been running from April 1944
Operation Sonnie: for Norwegian interest [Archive] - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

As said previously there are copies of Blockade Runners around (from about 55 euros)

G-AGGG 6/7 October 1943
 

Hi,

This is the flight that Nils Bohr took to get to Britain. Does anyone know who the crew were on that flight?

RobertT

I know that my Grandfather was the R/O on that flight and recalls him (Niels) losing consciousness due to either not hearing or not heeding the instructions to grab the oxygen mask. I know this is mentioned online with various explanations but I get the impression the crew were a bit frustrated by this! Not ideal to then have to descend.

My Grandfather was Joseph (Joe) Burnett.
I unfortunately don’t know who the Captain was. My Grandfather has further records mentioning him on flights alongside Captain John White and Captain Rendall.

My Grandfather received a medal from the King of Norway appointing him a Knight 2nd Class of The Order of Saint Olav. This was due to regaining control of the aircraft when the pilot passed out over Norway, until he could descend to an altitude whereby the pilot awoke. (Captain Rendall). This medal was awarded in Jan 1945.

He was also the R/O that flew with Captain White when they in three journeys flew 2400 miles in nine flying hours on instruments during darkness.

The family know this from documentation gleaned after his death in the early 70’s from cancer.
After the recent death of my Mum (who was very cagey about discussing wartime exploits) I spoke to my Aunt who chatted merrily away about her Dad telling her he flew the atomic physicist Niels Bohr to the U.K. She told me more stories too, which are absolutely fascinating.
I’ve had a few attempts to learn more and piece the jigsaw together properly, but note that others too find there hasn’t been much research carried out about this fascinating part of history.

Apparently my Grandfather was very reluctant to talk about his wartime experiences; I think he felt it was inappropriate to do so and conveyed that there was a high element of secrecy involved. He referred to certain things he was involved in as being connected with Churchill.
He too received a letter from Airways House commending him for the part he played in the war, dated 23rd June 1945.

I’m convinced he was involved in rescuing and transporting agents and important documents.
I’m fascinated by what I have read on these posts and would love to know more.