April

Kurt Keilig operated from Kjevik from 01.48–04.09 hours on 3 April, suffering damage to his Ju 88’s hydraulics. An estimated 30 supply-dropping aircraft were active over Norway on the night of 3–4 April, countered by four aircraft from Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen which claimed one success. A further aircraft was shot down by Flak, but Keilig's Flugbuch notes that Uffz. Sell's crew crashed to their deaths. From Grove, Denmark I./NJG 3 also reported sending up a Ju 88 against supply flights, from 01.07–02.25 hours.

An incursion over Oslofjord on the 4/5th was countered by one Me 110 and three Ju 88 but the enemy was not sighted and a Ju 88 was reported missing. On the night of 6/7 April one Ju 88 was reported to have operated from Norway, hunting courier traffic but made no sightings and single Ju 88s were scrambled on each of the next two nights, all without success or loss. The sortie on the 8/9th had been to the Kragerø – Oslofjord area but the reported enemy formation turned away prematurely. The Luftwaffe’s “Morning Report West” of 12 April 1945 reports, among operations from Norway that (on the night of the 11/12th) one Ju 88 flew a night fighter sortie against maritime reconnaissance aircraft over the Skaggerak. It made no sightings and returned safely.

On the night of the 13/14th there were several courier flights over southern Norway and one night fighter operated against them without success. At 21.31 hrs. on the 19th a Ju 88 was scrambled from Gardermoen to Krageroe. Ofw. Keilig flew again in 21 April (covering 1200 km.) while on the 25th his Ju 88 was scrambled from Gardermoen at 23.35 hours. At 23.00, Oslo signalled that a Ju 88 would scramble at 23.22 hrs. for Nesodden, south of Oslo. The controller at Aalborg announced two flights on the night of 23/24 April: Ju 88 B4+OA scrambled at 23.53 and landing at 00.43 (local time); a Bf 110 following one minute later and landing at 01.38. The Naval Station at Fredrikshavn signalled that two Ju 88s had taken off for Oslo at 05.00 hours on 26 April, reporting 90 minutes later that only one had reached its destination, the other having put down in Aalborg. It is not clear whether these two machines were night fighters however.

May

At least three aircraft remained in Norway: Bf 110 G-4 W.Nr. 110087, B4+KA; another G-4 (details unknown); and Ju 88 G-1 W.Nr. 710865, B4+DA, presumably Keilig’s old machine. The Staffel's He 219 may have ended the war at Copenhagen/Kastrup: Jörn Junker has posted two photographs of an He 219 marked "+AA" which was found there. This was probably the lone He 219 among the 109 aircraft idientified in an RAF photo reconnaissance of Kastrup on the afternoon of 4 May. In the last days of the war, Luftwaffe aircraft in Norway were ordered to rescue whomever they could from the German forces trapped on the Kurland Peninsula. Staffelkapitän Hptm. Hüschens and Ofw. Sebastian Falk however landed their Ju 88 G-6 (W.Nr. 623363, B4+SA) at Bredåkra in Sweden at 06.00 hours on 8 May 1945. Hauptmann Voigt flew his Ju 88 to Hamburg, Ofw. Keilig brought B4+EA back from Libau to Stade (after he couldn’t get in at Flensburg) and Ju 88 G-6 B4+FA (W.Nr. 621197) made it all the way to Mannheim-Sandhofen.

At least three machines remained in Norway: Bf 110 G-4 W.Nr. 110087, B4+KA; another G-4 (details unknown); and Ju 88 G-1 W.Nr. 710865, B4+DA, presumably Keilig’s old machine. The Staffel's He 219 may have ended the war at Copenhagen/Kastrup: Jörn Junker has posted two photographs of an He 219 marked "+AA" which was found there. This was probably the lone He 219 among the 109 aircraft idientified in an RAF photo reconnaissance of Kastrup on the afternoon of 4 May.

Appendix: Allocation of night fighters, July 1944–March 1945

PART FOUR AND FINAL

Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen in 1945