Iceland in WWII

[Black Hornet]

The British built a fuel farm when they were there, Germans could've done the same had they gone prior to operation Fork. It would seem they had a 2 week window with south Norway under control before British landed. On the subject of setting up air ops, they did it in 1 day at Spain in 37, they operated without hangars in the open.

[John]

Where was it and on what scale?

[Black Hornet]

Good question John. I will dig up where I got that, though I doubt those specifics are obtainable.

One thing I learned last night was from Crosley's They Gave me a Seafire book was that the Royal navy didn't deploy Air Direction finding radar as RAF did in 1st 2 years of the war as they were afraid it would give away the Fleets position. Therefore, the Luftwaffe would have little to fear from Royal navy crossing from Norway to Iceland.

[Black Hornet]

Construction of naval facilities at Hvalfordhur began soon after the occupation and these gradually grew into a large and important complex: amine depot, major pier and several jetties, major accommodations, a fresh water supply system, ammunition storage, a fleet bakery, bulk naval storage warehouse, recreation facilities, a direction-finding station, and a naval camp. Later, the installation included a major fuel farm,
 

[Black Hornet]

Where's the edit button? http://books.stonebooks.com/history/iceland/

 

As an asides, it was warmer than unusual in 1940 in Iceland.

 

following the warm climate between 1930 and 1940. https://notendur.hi.is/oi/icelandic_glaciers.htm

[Black Hornet]

This is camp Skipton, it has paved roads surrounding it, each one viable as runways to single engine planes. If one looks close at road on left, it is 2 lane wide.

Link about the camp

https://roddyfox.com/2013/10/27/alfred-fox-iceland-1940-42-some-detective-work-finds-skipton-camp/

Edited July 10, 2018 by Black Hornet

[Black Hornet]

As to air operations, it is the essential key to a German move on Iceland as they must have a quick answer to the Royal Navy when they arrive to sink the cargo ships, 6 & 8 inch guns mounted aft of these ships would provide one quick response, but as to air ops, how quick could they be up & running? well in Spain they did it in a day...............

On 9 August we started the job of rebuilding our six He 51s, On 10 August, the first He 51 was fully assembled and ready for operations.

 

The aircraft stood in the open, replacement parts, ammunition and fuel and oil laying protected from the sun under tarpaulins at the edge of the forest.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/germany_trautloft.htm

 

Plus they had plank wood instant runways used quite a bit in Norway.

 

http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... 0.jpg.html

http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... _.jpg.html

http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... 1.jpg.html

Edited July 11, 2018 by Black Hornet

[Black Hornet]

 As to the original post question,Iceland ran fish to the UK, I forget how much, but a large tonnage per year, many ships lost, it was very dangerous. There was also 1 Spit Ace from Iceland as I recall.

Technical data re Faeroes

Two Spitfires were stationed here in 1943 but again with the Luftwaffe flying in low level, radar would not pick them up so success from this station was non-existant.
http://www.crashsiteorkney.com/shetland-airfields-and-airbases

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peoples ... 8990.shtml

Of the eighteen Faroe Islands, only one, Vágar, is flat enough for aeroplanes to land.

the Pioneer Corps arrived in April 1942 to start building roads and an airport and extending the harbour at Sørvágur.


The first aeroplane landed here in Autumn 1942

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