FINN THORSAGER
Born: 20 May 1916
Died: 29. august 2000 (84)
Occupation: Pilot
Honors: St. Olavs medal with oak branch & Distinguished Flying Cross
Claimed kills: 13x at least 3 confirmed
Finn Thorsager was trained as a pilot at the Army Aviation School in Kjeller in 1936. He served as a fighter pilot in the Norwegian Jagevingen until the German invasion of Norway, where he was then stationed and on duty on the morning of 9 April at Fornebu Airport, Oslo. Of the 10 available Gloster Gladiators that were stationed there, only 7 were serviceable those were (413, 419, 423, 425, 427, 429 and 433) the last one (433) being the only camouflaged Gloster Gladiator and the one that Second Lieutenant Finn Thorsager flew. On the morning of April 9, it was sensed that something was amiss, and the gladiators had been started several times throughout the night. And at 05:00 in the morning, Second Lieutenant Finn Thorsager was ordered into the air to try and intercept a foreign plane north of Oslo. Shortly after take-off, he made contact with a foreign aircraft which he identified as a German Dornier (Do 17), and Finn Thorsager fired all four machine guns at the aircraft, and he thus became the first pilot in active aerial combat in Norwegian history. He made some claims to have sprayed his ammunition at many of the aircraft he saw, and after he ran out of ammunition he landed his plane on a nearby lake “Lyseren” which was 19 kilometers east of Oslo. He abandoned the aircraft and was driven to and rejoined the Norwegian Jagevingen. His first claim of the attack anginst an Heinkel plane might have been the Ju 52/3m that had been attacked and the Germans were claiming to have been shot down by two gloster gladiators.
After the Germans had occupied the country, Finn Thorsager escaped from Norway to Sweden, then via Moscow, Vladivostok, to Yokohama and California. He eventually reached the Little Norway training camp near Toronto Canada. He was then retained as an instructor, but joined 331 squadron in August 1941. He later was transferred to 332 Squadron as a lieutenant. on 18 March 1942, he was promoted to a Captain and took command of the “A-Flight”. and later during the Dieppe landings on 19 August 1942 he claimed two Fw190s between 06:50 and 07:10 and a third Fw190 at 15:10. In 1943 he, as a major became squadron commander on 22 February 1943. He was 1 July 1943 rested from his operations and was awarded the DFC on 15 September. Later that year he joined the ferry command and from the end of 1944 he flew Lockheed Lodestars on the Leuchar to Stockholm route the rest of the war. Finn Thorsager ended the war with one victory, with the one plane he claimed when flying the Gloster Gladiator.
BATTLES
Operation Weserübung - “The battle of Fornebu”
-Planes used by Finn Thorsager: Gloster Gladiator Mk.II
-Known Planes used by Germany: Dornier (Do 17), Junkers Ju 52/3m,
The Dieppe Raid
-Planes used by Finn Thorsager: Spitfire Mk.VB, Spitfire Mk.IX
-Known Planes used by Germany: Focke-Wulf Fw 190, BF 109
Finn Thorsager’s Gloster Gladiator Mk.II (433)
The camouflage of this plane, is a very unique one, as it was the only plane that had it painted! We have some Gloster Gladiator Mk.II planes in game, and i believe the one located in the Great Britain aviation techtree is the most simlar one, so it could potentially be obtainable for this.
CONCLUSION
We don’t have any Norwegian planes in the game yet, but this could still be a good candidate for the Pages of History series, and possibly become the first Norwegian profile picture in the game. As far as I know, I don’t remember that the Norwegian Gloster Gladiator Mk.II planes received any significant changes in Norwegian service, so I think that you can possibly win the unique camouflage that Finn Thorsager had on his Gloster Gladiator plane when you have completed the event.
SOURCES
Spoiler
Finn Thorsager
Books
NORSKE MILITÆRFLY
SBN 9788271286873
Published 2013-11-15
Edition 1st edition
Publisher Bodoni
Websites
(Facebook post by the Norwegian Army official Page) Redirecting...
Finn Thorsager – Wikipedia
Norwegian biplane fighter pilots - Finn Thorsager
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This post was made by
Til_Dovre_Faller