Danish WW2 Pilots

Hawker Typhoon Ib (SF-G ‘Aase’)

A photo of a Hawker Typhoon from 137 Sqn named ‘Aase’ and a Danish flag in a Scottish newspaper caught my eye. It is likely that Aase was the sweetheart of one of the pilots, while stationed in Copenhagen for six weeks from early May 1945.

On 13 April 2021, the Herald of Scotland celebrated the 100th birthday of Fg Off. John Addie Forrest living in a care house in Aberdeenshire. Fg Off. Forrest had an esteemed war time career in the Royal Air Force taking part in many missions and among other awards, the was knighted Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.[1]

Fg Off. Forrest in Typhoon Ib SF-G. The aircraft has the girl name 'Aase' and the flag of the Kingdom of Denmark on the side of the fuselage. The photo was taken at B.160 Copenhagen/Kastrup or later, when the squadron had moved on to B.172 Husum on 21 June 1945.
Fg Off. Forrest in Typhoon Ib SF-G. The aircraft has the girl name ‘Aase’ and the flag of the Kingdom of Denmark on the side of the fuselage. The photo was taken at B.160 Copenhagen/Kastrup or later, when the squadron had moved on to B.172 Husum on 21 June 1945.

Forrest, then Pilot Officer, was posted to 137 Sqn from 83 GSU for flying duties in February 1945. He participated in thirty-eight operations before the end of hostilities, and he served with the squadron until its disbandment in August 1945.

The squadron moved to B.160 Copenhagen/Kastrup on 9 May 1945 along with the rest of 125 Wing. The “A” Party flew in by Dakota aircraft and the Typhoons flew in during the afternoon. The next day was spent getting settled in, but most members of the squadron had already paid a visit to Copenhagen then.[2] Or as it is recorded in the 125 Wing’s summary of events:

Already the people of COPENHAGEN are falling over themselves to invite us to their homes and it is obvious considerable stamina will be required to keep pace with them.[3]

The squadron was settling in and getting on to a peacetime routine. The airport was ‘open for inspection by friends of RAF personnel,’ on 19 May and ‘most of the chaps had fair companions & all had a very good time.’[4]

The most obvious explanation for the name on the side of the fuselage is that it was written in affection to or to impress a Danish woman named Aase.

Aviation historian and Typhoon expert Chris Thomas has been helpful in trying to identify the serial of this particular aircraft. SF-G was not a regular aircraft for Fg Off. Forrest. From February to May 1945 he flew thirty-eight operations in seventeen different aircraft.[5] Of these the most likely candidate to be the SF-G in the photograph is Typhoon Ib PD574, but the relation is assumed, it has not been proven.

The fact that Forrest flew many different aircraft also means, that it is impossible to say, if it was Forrest or another 137 Sqn pilot, who had a special relation to Danish woman Aase.

Endnotes

[1] Andersen, Scots Spitfire veteran with royal connections celebrates milestone 100th birthday, The Herald, 14 April 2021, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19230091 (accessed on 30 April 2021).

[2] NA: AIR 27/956.

[3] NA: 26/185.

[4] NA: AIR 27/956.

[5] The aircraft serials are (number of operations in parenthesis): JR247 (2), JR305 (1), MN198 (3), MN306 (1), MN374 (1), MN445 (4), MN575 (7), MN863 (1), MN882 (2), MN922 (2), MN990 (1), PD574 (2), RB173 (1), RB193 (1), RB278 (3), RB318 (4), and SW473 (2).