Photo: The He 111 after belly landing on the ice of Sitasjaure Lake in 1940.
cloud bank heading south. Moments later, a lone He 111 was sighted by the Royal Navy fighters and though it attempted to evade the attackers by weaving in and out of clouds, Skua “Red 1” flown by Lieutenant EGD Finch-Noyes with stern gunner Petty Officer airman H. Cunningham, attacked the bomber five times assisted by “Red 2” flown by Midshipmen L. Gallagher with gunner P / O R. Rolph. The He 111 was significantly damaged by the attacking Skuas. Piloted by German pilot Uffz. Siegfried Blume, this He 111 of KG 26 was in a dire situation. Blume quickly decided to attempt a belly landing ahead on the dense wet snow still covering the ice on Sitasjaure Lake. Blume and his crew survived the landing and climbed out into the frozen surface and began a long trek over mountains in an attempt to reach farms that they had spotted near Skjomen. On May 16 at 2:00 pm, they were captured by a Polish patrol and transported to England as POWs. The He 111 was left at the lake and was not recovered by the Germans due to the remote location. In 1977, a police officer from Kiruna applied through the Swedish lost property law to become the owner of several aircraft wrecks that remained in northern Sweden after the war. One of these wrecks was this He 111 at Sitasjaure. The recovery operation began in August 2008. After nearly two years of planning, a Sikorsky Sea King helicopter from the Norwegian Air Force transported the components to a staging area
accessible by road. The pieces were loaded onto trailers and transported to Sweden, where restoration began. In the years since recovery, the mostly volunteer restoration team has transformed these salvaged pieces into a very complete airframe with components from other recoveries contributing to the effort. Though this could be a three-year restoration project, the value of the completed aircraft for display and its importance in the context of the World War II history make it a key addition to the American Heritage Museum. We hope you will make a donation toward this project.
Photo above: Restorers Sune Andersson (left) and Bengt Hermansson (right) sit in the unique nose section of the He 111. The highest level of detail is going into this static restoration. COLLINGS FOUNDATION - AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM 22
