Wilhelm Mohr

Wilhelm Mohr. On World War II
crew to operate within its route concession between Stockholm and
Leuchars. The arrangement began in the summer of 1941 although
the final Anglo-Norwegian Governmental Agreement was first reached
in midsummer 1942. Formally the Norwegian aircraft «belonged» to
BOAC and carried BOAC registration. The crew in BOAC uniform
were paid by the company on a refund basis and carried British passports.
The Norwegian contingent was strengthened by 4 Lockheed Lodestars
provided by the Norwegian government. Then 3 BOAC Lockheed
Hudsons were added. However, as German defence became increasingly
alerted to the activity and more effective, the Air Ministry in the
spring of 1943 restricted the traffic to couriers for essential missions,
using Mosquitos only. The passenger figures from Stockholm to Scotland
by that time were in 1941 – 141; in 1942 – 559; in 1943 – 533.
The Norwegian authorities found, however, that transport flights for
recruitment purposes were of such importance that another arrangement
was essential. This was felt particularly by the Air Force, which
had already made arrangements to select candidates for pilot training
from refugees in Stockholm. In October 1943 an arrangement was established
by which Norway would, independently but still within the
BOAC structure, maintain the route to Stockholm using the Lockheed
Lodestars. The British still provided airport and operating services out
of Leuchars.
This proved to be an effective arrangement and the traffic increased
considerably. The number of passengers between Stockholm and Scotland
is registered as 962 in 1944, and 1,114 until 7 May 1945. In the last
year of the war the Norwegian Air Force acquired under lend-lease 10
Douglas C 47 Dakotas, but these were just introduced when hostilities
ceased. During the war 3,309 passengers were transported to the UK
using the Stockholm route. The losses amounted to 11 aircrew and 18
passengers.
It is of interest to note that the Norwegian urge for transport for
recruitment purposes, strongly supported by the British Foreign Secretary
Mr Anthony Eden, led to an American offer of assistance. This
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