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| Date: | Saturday 27 April 1940 |
| Time: | afternoon |
| Type: | Blackburn Skua II |
| Owner/operator: | 800 Sqn FAA RN |
| Registration: | L2940 |
| MSN: | - |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | lake Breidalsvatnet, Grotli, Skjåk municipality, -
 Norway
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | HMS Ark Royal |
| HMS Ark Royal |
The aircraft was one of three 800 Sqn FAA RN Skua's on patrol from HMS Ark Royal, over the Andalsnes area of Norway on 27th April. During the patrol Skua L2940, "6A" shot down Heinkel 111 1H+CT which force landed beside lake Heillstuguvatnet 58 miles South East of Aalesund. One of the Heinkel crew was killed during the combat, with the other three surviving the crash landing. L2940, having sustained combat damage, suffered engine failure following the attack and was forced to carry out a belly landed on frozen lake Breiddalsvatnet near Grotli, Norway. Pilot, Captain R. T. Partridge and Observer, Lieutenant, Robert S. Bostock escaped without injury and set fire to the aircraft which sank into the lake during the spring thaw. The two crew eventually made their way to Andalsnes 60 miles to the north, where they were shipped back to the UK.
Skua L2940 was recovered from Lake Breiddalsvatnet in 1974 by divers from Royal Navy and the Royal Marine Sub Aqua Club and the remains shipped to the UK where they are displayed in the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, UK.
Lake Breiddalsvatnet and Lake Heillstuguvatnet where the Skua and Heinkel force landed are located within 2 miles of each other. Subsequently the British and German aircrews met each other in a local hunters cabin. A film loosely based upon the the combat, meeting and fates of the two crews called "Into the White" was released in 2012.
Sources:
https://www.fleetairarmoa.org/news/on-this-day-27-april-1940
http://www.airwar.ru/history/av2ww/allies/skua/skua.html
http://skua.no/page3.html
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Skua
http://skua.no/Operation%20Skua%20story%202.txt
http://www.goodall.com.au/warbirds-directory-v6/blackburn-hawker-siddeley.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_White
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Nov-2020 18:32 | Peter Clarke | Added |
| 15-Nov-2020 03:25 | Peter Clarke | Updated [Narrative] |
| 21-Nov-2020 10:31 | Jixon | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
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