Dornier DO17 at Cosford today

[Flying Pencil]

As I said- not in lakes, which is what we were initially talking about- read my post.

The vast majority are in the sea.

I should state my sources - the retired Director of the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum, Gardermoen and the current Curator of the Norwegian Aviation Museum, Bodo. They have the loss records of all aircraft documented as coming down over Norway during WWII. I am fortunate enough to have abbreviated copies of all surviving Luftwaffe loss docs (several hundred pages). I don't have to take my shoes and socks off to count how many are recorded as having come down on/in lakes.

If your friend or yourself have the documents detailing even a couple of these 'thousands' that are in Norwegian lakes- both of those national museums would be VERY interested to hear about it!

Same source, but it was paraphrased, I did not see or discus the actual data at length at the time.

We both know the recovery from a corner Lake Jonsvatnet yielded a Ju-88, and by chance they found the fuselage of another Ju-88 and mostly intact He-111. Years earlier a Ju-52 was recovered, an another was buried when building a dam. The location of a 109 is also known, but not recovered. Yes, it is only a few examples, but the number can be substantial. Considering the remote and vast areas, getting lost and emergency landings on lakes (or fjords) was the only option in many cases.

I should ask my friend if he can send me a copy too, if I can get hold of him, pretty busy.