Danish Spitfires at War.

Being a Dane I feel that the following stories should be told.

In 1941 and 1942 a group of Danish businessmen living in England collected £38,000 among themselves. This sum of money should be used to purchase Spitfires. The cheque for the £38,000 was handed over to Winston Churchill in Downing Street No. 10 by a group of Danes among these Joergen Thalbitzer, Axel Svendsen and Jens Ipsen, who were all serving in the RAF.

The £38,000 was enough to pay for 3 Spitfires Mk. VB.

• BL831 named "Skagen Ind" ("Inbound the Skaw")

• BL855 named "Niels Ebbesen" (a medieval Danish freedom fighter

• BL924 named "Valdemar Atterdag" (a medieval Danish king)

All 3 had Dannebrog (the Danish flag) painted on the fuselage in front of the cockpit together with the names.

On 16th February the 3 aircraft were delivered at 24th Maintenance Unit and were transferred to squadron 234 on the 5th April 1942. Here Danish pilots serving in this squadron should fly the 3 Spitfires. 2 of the aircraft were not in service for long; BL831 and BL924 were both lost during aerial combat on the 24th of 1942. On that occasion the American Flt. Lt. Watkins flew BL831. A Danish pilot flew BL924.

Danish pilots at war.

A number of Danes served in allied airforces during the war. The most well known is Kaj Birksted, OBE, DFC and DSO. He ended his service as a well-respected Wing Commander and ace with 10 confirmed kills and 10 probable kills. Kaj Birksted served in squadron 331 and flew Spitfires painted with his personal marking "KB" instead of the normal squadron markings. This was a privilege that only aces enjoyed. When he retired as leader of the Norwegian section of RAF, he was transferred to Combined Control Council, the general staff of the RAF, where he at times commanded the entire British airforce in connection with the day-operations around the invasion in Normandy in 1944.

 

Wing Commander Kaj Birksted at his at his return to Denmark after the war.

Aksel Svendsen (right), Joergen Thalbitzer (middle) in front of a Spitfire Mk VB. The gentleman with the huge coat is unknown to me.

Kaj Birksted wore up 3 Spitfires during his career in the RAF. He survived the war and returned to Denmark and continued in the new Royal Danish Airforce until 1960 where he took a position at NATO.

The earlier mentioned pilots, Joergen Thalbitzer, Axel Svendsen and Jens Ipsen also share a story, which should be told. Axel Svendsen's family moved to England before the war, and when it broke out Axel Svendsen joined the RAF. On flight school he met Joergen Thalbitzer, who had escaped from Denmark after the German attack on Denmark on the 9th April 1940. Here he also met Jens Ipsen who had served at the French Foreign Legion. After flight school he was transferred to squadron 32 at Manston where he flew Hawker Hurricanes. Later Joergen Thalbitzer also joined squadron 32. On the 2nd April 1942 Axel Svendsen and Joergen Thalbitzer were checked out on Spitfires and transferred to squadron 234 on Tangmere. During the first half of April 1942 Axel Svendsen writes to his family that the squadron was loosing too many pilots over northern France to the new German Focke-Wulf 190, which was superior to the Spitfire. On 24th April went on a mission in northern France and over Berck-Sur-Mer at the Channel-coast they were attacked by 20 FW190's. 2 of the Danish Spitfires were shot down: BL831 and BL924. BL831 was as mentioned flown by Flt. Lt. Watkins. Axel Svendsen flew BL 924 but no one saw him go down. Both pilots were killed. 2 more Spitfires were lost, however, the pilots saved their lives and were taken as prisoners of war. This operation should have been Axel Svendsen's last before a leave. When the squadron returned to Tangmere, Joergen Thalbitzer took off again to search for his friend.

On ops in July 1942 Joergen Thalbitzer was hit and lost height. During the following crash landing the Spitfire hit power-cable, lost a wing and ended upside down, so that Joergen Thalbitzer had to cut his way out of the harness. After 14 days on the run the Germans captured him because a French farmer called the police who arrested him and handed him over to the Germans. Joergen Thalbitzer later escaped from the POW-camp for airmen at Bromberg in Poland during the famous big escape. He and an English pilot, James Brian Buckley, escaped to Denmark via Danzig (Gdansk) where he met his family. When Joergen Thalbitzer and James Buckley attempted to escape to Sweden, the 2 pilots drowned when their boat sank in the sound between Denmark and Sweden. 

Jens Ipsen survivede the war and returned to Denmark. He entered service at the Danish Navy's Air Corps, from where he retired in 1955.

In April 1943 BL855 was converted to a Seafire M. IB and got a new serial number: NX920. It was transferred to Royal Navy Air Station Lee on Solent. Hereafter the trace of Niels Ebbesen is disappears. 

Today at the museum at Tangmere you can see a replica of Danish Spitfire in which Axel Svendsen met his destiny.
 

The replica of Svendsen's Mk. VB, BL924, at the museum at Tangmere.

Last but not least Kjeld Roenhof, who served with the Norwegian air force, should be mentioned. He has written the 2 books "We flew for freedom" (sorry, in Danish only) where he in very vivid and personal way tells about his time as a Spitfire pilot in squadron 331, where his friends and comrades is killed one by one. He tells about his first encounter with German fighters on his first operational flight. His orders were to keep as close to his squadron leader as possible and only keep his eyes on the leaders tail wheel. Suddenly the squadron leader goes into a steep dive and Kjeld Roenhof notices that the tail wheel has been blown off the aircraft. At a very low altitude Kjeld Roenhof decides the squadron leader has bought it and pulls out of the dive. Suddenly he is chased by 6 FW190's but he manages to escape, however, to the south instead of to the north. When he discovers his error and turns back the meets the 6 Germans again. This time the Germans will not let him slip through their fingers. In order to get the Germans off his tail Kjeld Roenhof remembers and copies the manoeuvre which the squadron leader's aircraft did. Only by performing wild manoeuvres and pulling many G's by putting his feet on the instrument panel and pull the stick as hard as he could he keeps the Germans behind him. Zigzagging at roof- and treetop level he manages to escape back to England where his fuel tanks are completely dry - only enough fuel to fill a cup. Upon the return to his own base the others greet him wildly. Actually the wounded squadron leader somehow also made his way home.
 

Losses

Here is the names of the Danish pilots lost their lives serving in allied airforces:

Royal Air Forcee

• P/O H R Andersen

• F/O N J R Buchwald

• P/O S J Christophersen

• F/O J H Gielstrup

• F/O A J Helvard

• F/Lt P Henrichsen

• F/Sgt E F Jacobsen

• F/Lt P U A Keel

• Sgt K F v d Aa Kühle

• P/O S E v d Aa Kühle

• F/Sgt S Lindhardt

• F/O Børge Nielsen

• F/O N P W Pedersen

• Pilot E C Randrup

• P/O Axel A Svendsen

• P/O Jørgen B Thalbitzer

• F/O N E Westergaard (DFC)

Royal Canadian Air Force

• F/O O H Antoft.

Royal Norwegian Air Force

• F/Sgt J R Binau

• Q/M K A Green

• LAC. G W Larsen

• Lt A H Quistgaard

• Korp. P M Rasmussen

South African Air Force

• 2nd/lt K Høyer

• Pilot S Jørgensen

• Pilot M Martiny