Norwegian Spitfire Foundation

26/04/2026

Harsh conditions winter 1944-45 on the continent. Plenty of rain and soggy ground. Still, the Norwegian Spitfires kept going.

24/04/2026

What's beating you, Rolf Arne Berg?

Our hero looks to be deep in thoughts. Taken early in the war years, perhaps in Canada. He got much to think about, and most likely knows whats coming.

Photo: via RAB collection and slightly enhanced.

22/04/2026

The unknown grave of Rolf Arne Berg in Holland. Rolf Arne Berg was killed February 3rd while attacking a German airfield.

Colourized**

AI in photo restoration isn’t about changing history, but making it easier to connect with. By adding realistic color and life to black-and-white images, it brings the past closer to the present—helping us see people and moments as real and immediate, not distant and faded.

15/04/2026

Two Norwegian Hurricanes against a backdrop of ominous clouds. Taken from a scratched photo from 1941 and AI colourized**

AI in photo restoration isn’t about changing history, but making it easier to connect with. By adding realistic color and life to black-and-white images, it brings the past closer to the present—helping us see people and moments as real and immediate, not distant and faded.

10/04/2026

A day late, but still as important.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” said Winston Churchill in 1940. Most think of the RAF. But Norway had its own “few.”

On the morning of April 9, 1940, six young Norwegian pilots took off from Fornebu in outdated Gloster Gladiator biplanes to face a vastly superior German invasion force.

Their names were Rolf Torbjørn Tradin, Per Waaler, Finn Thorsager, Kristian Fredrik Schye, Dag Krohn, and Arve Braathen.

They climbed into a sky already filling with German aircraft—Messerschmitt Bf 110s, Heinkel He 111s, and Dornier bombers—dozens of them, heading for Oslo.

Outnumbered and outgunned, they attacked anyway.

They dived into the formations one by one. Machine guns jammed. Engines faltered. German return fire tore into their fragile aircraft. Some Norwegian pilots pressed attacks down to close range, scoring hits and setting enemy planes on fire. Others were forced to break off, pursued by heavy fighters.

Within minutes, the sky over the Oslofjord had turned into chaos.

Several Norwegian aircraft were damaged. Pilots crash-landed on frozen lakes, fields, or barely made it away from burning airfields. One was wounded in action. Another had to flee from German fighters firing at him as he tried to land.

In a matter of hours, all Norwegian fighters were out of action.

The Germans landed at Fornebu. Norway was at war.

What happened to them?

Tradin later became a fighter pilot in England and was killed in combat in 1943.
Krohn served in the RAF and later flew for SAS.
Thorsager became a squadron leader in 332 Squadron and later a civilian pilot.
Waaler was shot down over Germany and spent the rest of the war as a POW.
Schye became a doctor and worked in the resistance.
Braathen disappeared during an RAF training flight.

These were Norway’s “The Few.”

They took off that morning knowing the odds—and flew straight into them.

08/04/2026

So, we enjoyed this immensly! A proper Spitfire song!

AI komp. Tekst, lagt på gitar, video: T. Larsen

08/04/2026

Spitfire Summer.
Norwegian Spitfires over the English countryside. Colourized**

AI in photo restoration isn’t about changing history, but making it easier to connect with. By adding realistic color and life to black-and-white images, it brings the past closer to the present—helping us see people and moments as real and immediate, not distant and faded.

01/04/2026

Engine work, North Weald - summer of 1942. Colourized**

AI in photo restoration isn’t about changing history, but making it easier to connect with. By adding realistic color and life to black-and-white images, it brings the past closer to the present—helping us see people and moments as real and immediate, not distant and faded.

26/03/2026

Norwegian mascots Varg and Mads at North Weald. Mads got his horns in Norwegian colours, so this would be around early fall 1942. Colourized.

**AI in photo restoration isn’t about changing history, but making it easier to connect with. By adding realistic color and life to black-and-white images, it brings the past closer to the present—helping us see people and moments as real and immediate, not distant and faded.

18/03/2026

North Weald, 1942.

Inside the dispersal hut of No. 331 Squadron RAF, where sorties were briefed, gear was checked, and the waiting happened.

This photograph is believed to show several well-known Norwegian pilots gathered on the left side of the room, figures associated with 331 Squadron in this period — including men such as Tarald Weisteen, Stein Sem, and Rolf Arne Berg. If that identification is correct, the image must date from before Sem was killed in action.

Moments like this rarely look dramatic. Yet for several of the men in this room, the future was already painfully short.

14/03/2026

North Weald, Essex, c.1943 — a Norwegian Spitfire coming in to land.

Worth noting: this is a colourised version of very low quality black-and-white photograph. The colours are added digitally to recreate a realistic 1940s Kodak/Kodachrome look and are not original to the photo.

11/03/2026

From the archives. Spitfire RAB to Kjeller, September 2017.

A short report:

Cato Guhnfeldt held an hour long talk on the main person of the event, Wing Commander Rolf Arne Berg. In attendance was his nephew Rolf Arne Berg (with the same name). Also in attendance was Rolf M. Kolling who flew Spitfires with 332 Squadron during WWII. Norwegian Spitfire Club had its stand at Kjeller while burgers and soft drinks being served.

In the afternoon, a small airshow was held. The newly restored de Havilland Moth was displayed first followed by Lars Ness in Spitfire RR232 (PV181 RAB). Then we were treated to a great display by the British-based Harvard which NSF leased for the events in Norway in June. A display by a Norwegian Tiger Moth was up next before Lars Ness in the Spitfire, and John Dodd in the Mustang finished of the event in spectacular fashion. They performed formation fly-bys as well as solo displays.