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Post by apteryx on Jul 28, 2017 9:51:12 GMT 12
James Leon Wilkie from Wanganui served with 263 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, based at at one stage at Bardufoss in northern Norway during the German invasion. On 2 June 1940 he and another pilot flew Gloster Gladiator biplanes on patrol near Narvik. The other pilot, also a New Zealander, was successful in shooting down three modern German bombers that day. Jim Wilkie went missing, and it is assumed he was shot down during his first attack on the enemy aircraft. The wreckage of his plane was later found, and his body buried in Narvik. On a recent visit to Narvik New Cemetery I placed a poppy on his grave. Hugh Morrison (RNZVR, flying with the FAA) is also buried here.  P1120504 Narvik cemetery Wilkie by Andrew Ontheroad, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 28, 2017 10:56:46 GMT 12
Who was the other pilot that shot down three bombers, Andrew? And what type were the bombers? Very interesting story!
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Post by apteryx on Jul 28, 2017 11:48:11 GMT 12
Dave. According to this source: 263 Squadron RAF N5914 P/O James Leon Wilkie (20) 02.06 1940. Took off from Bardufoss at 14:30 along with N5681(P/O Jacobsen) on patrol Narvik/Bjørnfjell. Wilkie was shot down when they attacked two Bf 110's of I./ZG 76. P/O Wilkie was shot down by Leutnant Helmut Lent of ZG 76. F/O Louis Jacobsen (New Zealand) managed to shot down at least three German Heinkels this day. One of these was He 111 1H+CK which force landed on lake Grøvelsjøen. The remains of the wreckage of Wilkies Gladiator remained on Lille Haugefjellet until the end of 1998. Then the wreckage was recovered and brought to the Jet Age Museum, Gloucestershire Airport for restoration. P/O James Leon Wilkie rest at Narvik New Cemetery. And according to the Jet Age Museum near Gloucester, which is restoring Wilkie's Gladiator: Two Gloster Gladiators of B Flight, 263 Squadron RAF had been ordered to patrol the Narvik area and to follow the railway line to the Swedish border. Around 14h30 the British fighters reached the border and encountered two Luftwaffe aircraft which they identified as Ju 88s. In the words of the lead pilot, P/O Jacobsen ‘I attacked No1 from above and beam, and fired one four sec.burst with ‘deflection, from approx. 300 yds. Attempted to close range, but enemy a/c drew slowly away while diving. Chased ea/c into Sweden and fired another 2 sec. burst at approx. 400 yds. Enemy a/c disappeared into cloud. On returning to patrol above cloud, I noticed No2 a/c (his wingman) was not following and did not see him again’ P/O Jim Wilkie was missing, it is assumed shot down during his first attack on the enemy aircraft. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 28, 2017 12:49:52 GMT 12
Thanks Andrew. That's a really interesting encounter. We hear too little these days about the Norwegian campaign and especially the Kiwis involved in it. That's amazing that his Gladiator is being restored.
Sadly I see that Louis Jacobsen DFC did not survive much longer, Missing presumed Dead while still with No. 263 Squadron on the 9th of June 1940. I am guessing he must have been one of the squadron's ten pilots lost when they were onboard HMS Glorious trying to escape Norway and the carrier was sunk by the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.
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Post by apteryx on Jul 30, 2017 17:11:35 GMT 12
Dave: thanks for the extra information about Louis Jacobsen. Very sad.
I have a cunning plan to see Jim Wilkie's restored Gladiator next year, and shall report on this forum if successful!
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Post by planecrazy on Nov 16, 2018 16:21:28 GMT 12
Been trying to find the livery this Gladiator would have flown in, can anyone help?
Thank you.....
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Post by kiwirob on Nov 17, 2018 2:31:55 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 17, 2018 10:14:30 GMT 12
Regarding Flight Sergeant Frederick Bacon, of No. 489 (NZ) Squadron, For Your Tomorrow states they were shot down after making an attack on armed merchant ships of Kristiansand on the south coast of Norway, and buried there at Kristiansand, so I wonder why he ended up in the north at Trondheim? I assume he must have been reinterred postwar?
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Post by smithy on Nov 18, 2018 7:50:28 GMT 12
The Norwegians don't do a very good job looking after war graves. What utter bullshit. As a NZer who happens to live in Norway and has visited quite a few military gravesites your comment here smacks of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about, and very likely someone who has spent very little time in Norway, if at all. Most war dead cemeteries are well looked after and especially those for foreign casualties. Foreign allied gravesites are usually well tended and it's not uncommon for them to have flowers left on them on the 8th May. It is true that gravestones age quicker in the Norwegian climate and especially due to the temperature fluctuations from very low sub-zero temperatures over winter and quite temperate temperatures over summers. But the presumption that the Norwegians "don't do a very good job looking after war graves" is utterly ignorant. |
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Post by steveh on Nov 18, 2018 9:15:33 GMT 12
I'm guessing this grave would come under the care of the CWGC, an organiation which looks after Commonwealth graves in war cemeterys across the globe & having visited some in some pretty far flung & different places, both 1st & 2nd World Wars, I can only say they do a magnificent job. Probably the farthest flung one I came across was in Gilgil in Kenya, in an obviously poor rural area, the cemetery which contained graves from WW2's East African campaign, was wonderfully well tended & as neat as a pin, I can only imagine a 1st world country like Norway does at least as well.
Steve.
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Post by kiwirob on Nov 18, 2018 13:00:38 GMT 12
The Norwegians don't do a very good job looking after war graves. What utter bullshit. As a NZer who happens to live in Norway and has visited quite a few military gravesites your comment here smacks of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about, and very likely someone who has spent very little time in Norway, if at all. Most war dead cemeteries are well looked after and especially those for foreign casualties. Foreign allied gravesites are usually well tended and it's not uncommon for them to have flowers left on them on the 8th May. It is true that gravestones age quicker in the Norwegian climate and especially due to the temperature fluctuations from very low sub-zero temperatures over winter and quite temperate temperatures over summers. But the presumption that the Norwegians "don't do a very good job looking after war graves" is utterly ignorant. I wouldn’t have said what I said if I hadn’t seen them for myself. I’ve been living in Norway since 2006. The graves for Norwegian soldiers aren’t looked after by the govt they are private, other people are buried on top of them and there name becomes a footnote on the new occupants headstone. It’s a shame the Commonwealth Graves weren’t consolidated into a single cemetery, most of the German ones in 3 or 4 locations. |
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Post by kiwirob on Nov 18, 2018 13:03:33 GMT 12
I'm guessing this grave would come under the care of the CWGC, an organiation which looks after Commonwealth graves in war cemeterys across the globe & having visited some in some pretty far flung & different places, both 1st & 2nd World Wars, I can only say they do a magnificent job. Probably the farthest flung one I came across was in Gilgil in Kenya, in an obviously poor rural area, the cemetery which contained graves from WW2's East African campaign, was wonderfully well tended & as neat as a pin, I can only imagine a 1st world country like Norway does at least as well. Steve. I’m pretty sure they aren’t, compared to the CWGC administered cemeteries in France, or Germany they’re not well kept IMO, obviously someone else disagrees. |
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Post by smithy on Nov 18, 2018 20:11:32 GMT 12
I wouldn’t have said what I said if I hadn’t seen them for myself. I’ve been living in Norway since 2006. The graves for Norwegian soldiers aren’t looked after by the govt they are private, other people are buried on top of them and there name becomes a footnote on the new occupants headstone. It’s a shame the Commonwealth Graves weren’t consolidated into a single cemetery, most of the German ones in 3 or 4 locations. Where do you live in Norway? The reason I ask is that your experience is different from mine. I have seen very few war graves which have been in seriously poor condition, and unusually they have been in very remote areas or exposed coastal areas where the elements have been visibly responsible for the poor condition. And you're not entirely correct saying that Norwegian soldiers' war graves are the responsibility of private owners. In certain fylke and kommune, albeit the smaller ones, upkeep is handled by the local government authorities. Yes, many are the responsibility of private individuals and organisations and often in larger populated areas in the south, but your slight was a generalised one stating that, "Norwegians don't do a very good job looking after war graves" which is simply not true. Foreign war graves are very well tended. |
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Post by kiwirob on Nov 18, 2018 21:04:02 GMT 12
I live in Aukra. Where abouts are you ?
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Post by smithy on Nov 18, 2018 21:36:10 GMT 12
Nordland.
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