Hinrik

Dear PK, Thanks for your most welcome comments. Yes indeed, many of the NOS parts come from Russell motors, but I have also been able to find a lot of stuff from 2 good friends; Henk Joore of Holland (http://home.quicknet.nl/qn/prive/ahum/index.htm) and Ian Wright of Ark Motorcycles, Devon England. Ian has restored a number of BSA M20, and is re-manufacturing many old hard to find parts. He told me frankly one day, that if I continue restoring my bike using all the rare NOS parts I have been able to find, this might become the most complete and original WM20 in the World! I have been saying it for 3 years: "next summer it will be ready" but now....I can really say it with confidence...."It will be ready this summer!!" Cheers Hinrik

hej Jan, I recommend your friend tries to find the out of print KM books by John R. Angolia: "The Kreigesmarine" I have Vol. 2 which has a lot of info on KM uniforms and the patches etc. The are a set of 3 volumes. Here is are a few link to some for sale: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...category=103999 http://www.tmhbs.com/h_choice_dec_05.asp http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearc...John+R.+Angolia Hope this helps. If your friend only collects KM stuff, I recommend he contact "KM-Spain" (Eduardo) who is a member here. Does he have any U-boat items? I collect them. Regards Hinrik Iceland

Otto, Your reply is great timing. I will fly tonight: China-Dubai-Amsterdam, and on sunday: Amsterdam-Madrid-Rio. I rented an apartment in Jardim Botanico. Will stay in Rio for 11 days. Drop me message, and I will gladly get in touch once I am there. Regards Hinrik

Steve, If you do not have any dates or places know where your grandfather might of have picked up the clock, I think it will be very hard to find out which U-boat. If he was on an HMS ship, which you knew the name of, it might be easier...but Royal Marines? He could of picked it up almost anywere and from a ship for that matter. In my expiriance, items stories have often changed in the 60+ years, since end of WWII Regards Hinrik

Peter, Interestings to hear about your father in law. Do you have any of his things? Greenland had 3 main airfields that I know off, called "Bluie-west 1" or (BW-1) on the south tip. "Bluie-west 8" or (BW-8) on the west coast and "Bluie-East 2" (BE-2) on the east coast. Did your father in law say he only landed 2 times in Iceland? Sounds a bit little. Maybe he did some trips through the Azores islands aswell? The American Army was in Iceland from 1941-1947. Then they came back in 1951 and have been here ever since. Iceland became a very important place again in the cold war. Iceland does not have any Military on its own, besides the small Coast Guard unit. Now with the cold war over and the US cutting back on defence spending, the 2 countries are at present meeting over the future of the base, which might be partially closed down. Regards Hinrik

John / Jim, There are a number of good books available on Iceland in WWII, but most are in Icelandic, and therefor of no use to you. Iceland was settled by Vikings out of Norway in the year 960. We are a Nordic race and the "do you live in snow-houses?" question can get a little boring! hahaha. For those interested in reading more, then here is a link to a book called "Outpost in the North Atlantic: Marines in the defence of Iceland" : http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Iceland.html It was written by USMC Colonel James A. Donovan. I don?t have any plans at the moment to write a book. But I have been helping a friend of mine with a series of books on Iceland -WWII. Some of my photos are in the books. Regards Hinrik Ps. China is different. I work for an airline so I travel much. Just came back from Kuala Lumpur now.

Sal, You are absolutley right! I did have a diary of how much I have spent on this project, but that was lost when my lold aptop hard drive crashed...maybe a good thing as I could of bought a perfect WM20 for the money spent, however...that bike would not have anything to do with Iceland in WWII. Regards Hinrik

Guys, Thanks for the positive comments. With out looking in a book, I think around 450 Icelanders were killed, out of a total population of roughly 100.000....hence around 5% ot the total population. There are 17 Luftwaffe aircrew members burried in a single large grave in Iceland, members of 4 different aircraft: Heinkel He-111, 2x Junkers Ju-88 and crew of a Focke Wulf Condor Fw-200. One of the Fw-200 crew was killed on his birthday of 23 years. I have the bomb selector unit of that aircraft in my collection, and I have meet the retited US Army Air Corps / Air Force, Maj. Gen. Ingelido, that shoot the aircraft down. He had 12 air victories in WWII, and later became a Commander of an Aircraft testing squadron. At the moment, I am in China, so I have limited access to my photos, put I will gladly share the once I have, as photos is what I have most of in my collection, or around 1500 WWII - Icleand related photos, most never before published, and some marked with "G-2" "Not for publication" stamps. Sincerely Hinrik

Dear David, As I understand it, the laws in my counrty are now similar ( or worse) to the once in you country for the exepction to the few things: 1) semi automatic riffle importation was banned in 1977 2) As of 1998 semi automatic handguns / airguns are banned, no semi automatic handguns, other then specially made for competition shooting, can be imported. On the general, Machine guns are bannened! but due to my ties with a museum, and my guns being of very history backround, I am one of only 2 individuals (to my knowladge) to have this permit. The guns have been deactivated, but the main thing is.. they still have moving parts and look excatly like the "live" ones on the outside, but cant fire. My main interest is Iceland in WWII..... I do compete in action leage in pistol shooting with Glock 17 and Beretta 92F in US when I went to collage / flight school there...but that is only for fun. This is history and I am serious about that, specially when it has to do with my country I am only posting the guns as I think they will make an good "impact" or "impression" but I have boxes full of different parts of WWII Aircraft. Regards Hinrik Hinrik

Hi Amos, I did not mean to sound mean, but I meant to sound firm. Thanks for your positive comments, and if there is any interest, I can post photos to keep this post going to an interesting descausion, Intersting thought though.....all the US soldiers killed in Iceland in WWII were exumed, and reburried in USA. The British soliders and German soliders are still there. The German site is small and memorable, because there were so few of them killed there. There graves, are being carfull looked after by the German and British Emabassy, which now ironically, share the same small building together in Reykjavik. Regards Hinrik

Guys, I figure I have made an interesing thread here.....nobody else care to comment besides Rick on the the leagality of my collection? hinrik

Guys, This is an old post, but due to what I think is "ignorance" I felt compelled to clear the facts. Which are: 1) Before the war, many German scientist were all over the country doing so experiments, and its now known that they were looking for sites for airfields or other places of military importance. 2) Before the war started, 3 German men, claiming to be from Lufthansa, went to Iceland to visit Prime Minister Hermann J?nsson. They asked him permission to build a proper airport, but at that time the only airfield in Iceland was a poor grass strip. PM "smelled a rat" and refused them, saying the Icelandic people intended to build there own airfield. This made the 3 man unhappy and they started to make threats that this could result in a cancilation of trade aggrements between the 2 countries. The Icelandic PM, stood his ground, and the 3 men went away unhappy. Later were found out to be Officers of the Luftwaffe! It has been acknowlaged by historians that know of this, that if the Germans would of had an airport in Iceland before the conflicts started, the war would of ended later then 1945, as the Germans would of held "the key" to the North Atlantic, as said by Winston Churchill himself. The one thing that scared PM W.C. the most was the U-boat threat. Historians also find it interesting that Iceland, the poorest Caucausian country in the world at the time, would stand up to Hitler, as he had just "walked" into his neigboring countries, with out firing a shoot. 3) Iceland had one of the highest casualite rates in WWII, per capita. (% lost vs. total population) most of them sailors, sailing with hard needed goods like fish to the UK. 4) Hitler had a plan to invade Iceland, called Operation Ikarus, which was suposed to be carried out with Operation Sealion (Invasion of UK) but since the Germans lost the Battle of Britain air conflict, both Operations were supended. 5) Allied aircraft based in Iceland, sunk and attacked a large number of U-boats, and shoot down a few Luftwaffe aircraft. 6) Iceland was invaded by the British, 10th may 1940. The Icelandic government had on 3 prior ocasions, denied PM W. C. the right to place UK garrison troops there, due to the neutrality of the island. PM W.C. knew the island was very important and attacked the country, giving the Commanding Gen. Sturgis orders that he was allowed to loose "x" number of men, before returning fire. So determind was the British PM in taking the island. This has always been called a "friendly takeover" but its really nothing shy of an invasion. Only problem was that the only armed guards that the country had, was the 100 so strong Police force, and on 10th may, they were 3 hours away from the capital on firearms trainning! 7) Upto 60.000 allied soldiers were based in Iceland, with men from US Marines, US Army, US Navy, US Air Corps, Royal Navy, RAF, RCAF, Norweigian 330 "Free" RAF sq, and many many more. 8) Iceland played a big role in Operation Bolero, ferry flight of US made aircraft / bombers via Nova Scotia-Greenland-Iceland to the UK, which went on to bombing runs to Germany. When Meeks field (Now Keflavik International) was opened in desember 1943, it had the longest runnway in the world. I have a diary from a P-38 pilot based there, that says one day 117 B-17 were parked all over, due to bad weather conditions. 9) The Allies built big Hospital camps in Iceland to treat war wounded. 10) Out of the large number of allied soldiers killed in Iceland, mainly due to accidents and bad weather, the highest ranking was Gen. Frank M. Andrews, Commander of all US Armed Forces in ETO. His sucsessor was Gen. Eisenhower. Andrews Air Force Base in the US is named after this Gen. I have reports of about 400 aircraft crashes in Iceland, WWII. I could go on, but I think this is something to restart this topic from someone that actually knows something about it. It really pisses my off how little reqognition Iceland gets for its contribution to the WWII effort, specially due to all the men and women we lost. Though not a great number, they were a large % portion of the population at the time. Even today, the total population is not over 300.000. The Americans left the country for a few years after WWII, but came back in 1951, due to the new cold war situation with Russia. It is still here. Regards Hinrik Steinsson Curator Aviation War History Museum Reykjavik Iceland

Ed, Can you get me a website address or e-mail for the dealers you mentioned? Regards Hinrik

Hi guys, I just got this handset made by Mix & Genest of Berlin. I was told it came from a U-boat. What do you guys think? Its about 12 inch long and built like a tank! Regards Hinrik

Alejandro, Your collection looks great To answer my own question, I found a photo from your collection on weshots site: http://community.webshots.com/album/72980040tKyAHZ My German is not too great, but I think this is a photo you took inside U-995 ? Clearly shown, here in the Radio room, bottom right, is the clock in question! And interestingly, there is also a large brass clock there. Regards Hinrik

Ed, You are right! I missed that on the minature aswell, but I just bought this lot and have not had them in hand. If you look closer at the full size CVSM, then it looks like there is a little damage to the ribbon, on the side where the bar should of originally been, so maybe it just feel off. I will look more closely at it, when I am home next time. Regards Hinrik

More medal lots. This medal bar, cap badge and photo comes from UK Solider based in Iceland. He can be seen on the photo with polar bear patch on his shoulder, holding his son, with Icelandic wife. Hinrik

Ed, Here is another RCAF CVSM lot that I have from another guy in the 162 squadron, based in Iceland. He was a pilot, but was operating as Flight Engineer flying Canso?s. His pilot log book is next to his 4 medals. This CVSM has the overseas bar to it. Is there a chance the 1st lot I have is just missing the bar and I can replace it? If so, any idea where I can get one? I have 3 US Bronze star lots, will post them in a different forum. Regards Hinrik

Ed, Thanks for the info. I do also have his "Shighting Logbook" with some sextant locations. He was based in Iceland in 1944 with the 162 squadron, and that is listed in the logbook. I have over a hundred referance books, how ever I work over seas, far away from them, and can only read them when home on days off. The medal you asked about is named. I incuded a photo of it, you can see his name engraved on the lower part of the ribbon attachment part. Thanks Hinrik

Some odd bits. Interesting to see he was a Commander of a survival training school.

Canadian Service medal ?? Reverse.

Nice lot with a lot of extra stuff.

Guys, I just got this nice Medal lot to a Pilot in the RCAF 162. squadron. Can you please tell me what the medal on the far right is for? Specially interested in knowing what the little bar across the ribbion is for. Regards Hinrik

Rick, All of the MG?s are deactivated and licenced. Normally MG?s are banned here, but due to my museum work and the guns being historic, I have an exception. I think I remmber just a handful of firearm related crimes here in the past 15-20 years, although there are a lot of guns in this country. The Lewis guns are all over, because after the war the Fishing company started using the guns to shoot seals and whales. Coast guard was not happy with that idea and confiscated the magazines, making the guns only single shot. Somewhere in the Coast guard storage room, there might be a big pile of rare 97rd Lewis magazines! Regards Hinrik

Another nice historic firearm..... Aluminum flare pistol from Heinkel He-111, serial number 03900. Crashed in Iceland 22 may 1941. The Iron Cross 1st class is of the pilot: Hans Joachim Durfeld. Maker is L-58, Rudolf Suval, marked on the screw back disk only. Took me 6 years to "convince" the old man that owned it to pass it off. There were some steel helmets recovered from the crash site. A He-111 would normally have a crew of 3, but 4 bodies were found! After the war, a German offcial came to Iceland looking for the 5th body! We suspect this aircraft might of been dropping spys in the country. Before 1991, one of out top German Luftwaffe flights historian, Hordur Geirsson, contacted the UK archives, asking for info, but was told this was under a 50 year secret act. In 1991, Hordur proudly sent a request for info, but was told that the He-111 info had been changed to a 75 year secret! Hinrik