An interesting discussion is in progress on another forum:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=118122

regarding covert air operations from Scotland to Norway during WW2. Whilst I was aware that some had occurred it seems that it was a larger operation than I had realised.

I wonder if any member of this forum might have something to contribute to the discussion?

exmpa

That's an interesting find.

I tend towards doubt about a specific operation, but don't see why there would not have been flight to drop SiS agents into Norway - or even pick them up - in a hurry.

That doubt I mention is different from disbelief - what I mean is that I think there may have been an obvious requirement for such a connection from Scotland to Norway, and that may have happened often enough to become organised, but I wonder about it being something that was specifically set up and run as a single operation.

But it would be a fascinating find if it was.

While the Shetland Bus was clearly an effective means of transportation, it would not have been flexible.

I suspect that a single aircraft would have been easier to manage as a quickly arranged covert operation, and been less likely to be disrupted than a boat. I make his observation purely from the aspect of a boat having to approach the coast, which is a small area for the enemy to monitor, as opposed to the sky at night. The Germans were not particularly interested in radar for defence, so I suspect there were few sets sent to Norway - if any.

I have asked someone who may be knowledgeable about the deployment of the aircraft mentioned, the He 115, and can only await their reply.

SIS did seem to tend to keep to themselves and have as little to do with SOE as possible.  Just think how much is written about SOE training establishment then compare with how much has been written about SIS.

Of course one factor is that SOE was disbanded and broken up at the end of the war.  Some books describe other agencies descending on them like a pack of wolves trying to grab as much as possible.

I remember hearing something like this too, but I believe the plane used was a Mosquito. Apparently the guest was bunged into the bomb bay with a thermos flask, a blanket and, no doubt, a St Christopher medal.

That ring any bells with anyone?

Quoted from jimbo

I remember hearing something like this too, but I believe the plane used was a Mosquito. Apparently the guest was bunged into the bomb bay with a thermos flask, a blanket and, no doubt, a St Christopher medal.

That ring any bells with anyone?

Yes, it rings a bell with me. I believe there was a Danish physicist by the name of  Niels Bohr who was flown out of Denamrk in a British Mosquito to be part of the  British team of physicists working on the Manhattan project. They nearly killed the man in the bomb bay of the Mosquito (something went wrong in the bomb bay, but I forget what it was.)

Wasn't that flights between the UK and Sweden using a Mosquito?

Quoted from jmb

Wasn't that flights between the UK and Sweden using a Mosquito?

I don't think so JMB. I think it was Denmark (He was Danish, and I am sure of that).... but I wouldn't bet on it.

Quoted from Apollo

In September 1943, reliable word reached Bohr about his imminent arrest by the German police; the Danish resistance quickly managed to help Bohr and his wife escape by sea to Sweden. Soon after, Bohr was flown in a military aircraft to Britain

The service was operated by BOAC, from Wikipedia

Quoted Text

BOAC

Between 1943 and the end of the war, Mosquitos were used as transport aircraft on a regular route over the North Sea between Leuchars in Scotland and Stockholm. Lockheed Hudsons and Lodestars were also used but these slower aircraft could only fly this route at night or in bad weather to avoid the risk of being shot down. During the long daylight hours of the Northern summer, the Mosquito was the only safe alternative.

Because Sweden was neutral, the aircraft carried civilian markings and were operated by crews who were nominally "civilian employees" of BOAC. They carried small, high value cargoes such as precision ball bearings and machine-tool steel. Occasionally, important passengers were carried in an improvised cabin in the bomb bay, one notable passenger being the physicist Niels Bohr, who was evacuated from Stockholm in 1943. The flight almost ended in tragedy as Bohr did not don his oxygen equipment as instructed, and passed out. He would have died had not the pilot, surmising from Bohr's lack of response to intercom communication that he had lost consciousness, descended to a lower altitude for the remainder of the flight. Bohr's comment was that he had slept like a baby for the entire flight.