NORSEMAN
by Bjørn Hafsten and Nils Mathisrud
Although WW2 was still raging Europe, it was evident by the latter half of 1944 that the
war was coming towards an end. This meant that a great need for transport aircraft would
arise when the country was to be rebuilt. Thus in December 1944 the Norwegian authorities
sent an application for an order on eight UC-64A Norseman aircraft, to be delivered on
Lend-Lease terms. The application was quickly granted, eight aircraft that were in
storage in Montreal were flown to Newark before the end of January 1945.
There they were packed into crates and shipped to Britain.
The Norwegian authorities wanted to base the aircraft in Sweden, together with some
Lockheed Lodestars, to support the communications in Northern Norway that was then been liberated.
However this task was to be performed by USAAF C-47s, under the command of colonel Balchen.
Instead the aircraft formed the Norseman Flight at Winkleigh, Devon,
where also the Norwegian Training Base was located. The first aircraft became operational on 2 May.
The Norseman Flight did not stay at Winkleigh for a long time, already by the end of the month
it was transferred to Norway, being stationed at Fornebu near Oslo.
From 1 June until the Norseman Flight was disbanded on 4 August 1945 the aircraft flew
regularily the Oslo - Trondheim and the Oslo - Kjevik (Kristiansand) - Sola (Stavanger) -
Herdla (Bergen) routes, as well as VIP flights. The aircraft were then spread around to
various air force stations, assigned to station commands, squadrons and other units.
The aircraft could be equipped with either wheels, skis or floats depending on operational needs.
In 1953 a second batch of 15 additional aircraft were delivered from Canada.
Of these, 13 were of type Mk.IV and 2 of type Mk.VI.
Since the UC-64A was basically the same as the Mk.VI, the original batch was now redesignated Mk.VI.
One UC-64A had also been bought from the civil operator
Widerøes Flyveselskap og Polarfly A/S.
On the other hand, nine aircraft were leased back to the same company between 1954 and 1949.
Another two aircraft were leased to Thor Solberg Aviation Co. for a period in 1959.
Eventually six aircraft were sold to these operators.
The Mk.IV and the Mk.VI (UC-64A) were different in several aspects. The most prominent was a
more bulged fuselage for the Mk.VI and the stubwings.
The two types had also different floats and float struts.
With DHC-3 Otters and SAAB 91B-2 Safirs entering service with the RNoAF in the mid-1950s,
these types began to replace the Norseman aircraft, which continued to serve until 1959.
The last operational Norseman were a few floatplanes at Skattøra as well as one aircraft
each at Gardermoen, Sola and Ørland. The surviving aircraft were finally sold in 1960 to
Widerøes Flyveselskap and A/S Solbergfly.
Colours and markings
The first batch of UC-64A aircraft were originally built for the USAAF,
and were painted aluminium with US insignia and the serial number on the fin.
These colours and markings were applied when they were delivered to the Norwegian service.
According to the markings regulations for Norwegian Air Force after VE-day the aircraft should
be painted with British roundels (type C on the wings and type C1 on the fuselage) and fin flash.
It was thus common practice that Norwegian flag colours on the rudder replaced the RAF fin flash.
However this was not effectuated and the aircraft continued to fly with US markings.
There is however possible that some aircraft got a Norwegian fin flash.
When the new Norwegian national markings were introduced from 1 December 1945,
at least one aircraft had this painted on top of the US insignia, with the US bars still present.
Also a Norwegian fin flash was applied to this aircraft.
During the first half of 1946, various registration systems were used within the RNoAF.
From 3 April 1946 the Northern Air Command introduced a registration code system composed
of the letter N followed by a number. Norseman aircraft were allocated the codes N-21 - N-29,
but only the codes N-21 and N-22 are known to be used. 333 Sqn. used a single letter on their
Norseman aircraft. From August 1946 a new standard system was introduced,
a single letter identifying the aircraft type followed by a two-letter code for individual aircraft.
The Norseman got the type-letter R. The two-letter codes started from AB,
followed by AC, AD etc. until AI. A regulation dated 3 February 1948 specified the
roundels to be 900mm in diameter and the registration letters 608mm x 450mm.
In practice there were several variations on the markings though.
The ex-RCAF aircraft that were delivered with second batch were painted MAP Yellow
(aka Trainer Yellow). They were marked in the same way as for the first batch,
with the codes R-AK - R-AY. A new markings regulation was introduced in 1954,
specifying the fuselage roundel to be 600mm and the registration code 400mm high.
The wing roundels should be 900mm as before. It seems that this was
effectuated only on a few aircraft.
Towards the end of 1956 a request from United Nations was recived to provide a
communications flight to operate with the UN forces in Gaza.
Four aircraft, all Mk.IVs (R-AL, R-AN, R-AS and R-AX), were flown to Rygge and held in readiness.
The aircraft were painted white with UN markings applied.
Eventually there was no need for them. The aircraft were returnd for storage,
retaining the white scheme.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70513
Norseman Flight, RNoAF
Fornebu, Norway 1945
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. Standard USAAF markings, insignia in four positions
(50" on wings, 35" on fuselage).
8" black serial number on fin.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70514
Gardermoen Station Flight, RNoAF
Gardermoen, Norway 1946
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. Norwegian roundels in six positions matched in size to USAAF markings.
Serial number obscured by fin flash. The true identity of this aircraft is not certain, but it is
possibly 44-70514.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70510, N-21
Skattøra Station Flight, RNoAF
Skattøra, Norway 1946
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings, 1000mm on fuselage.
800mm black registration code, 8" black serial number.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70510, R-AC
Skattøra Station Flight, RNoAF
Skattøra, Norway 1948
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
680mm black registration code. 100mm black serial number.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70514, R-AE
Bardufoss Station Flight, RNoAF
Bardufoss, Norway 1951
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
500mm black registration code. 8" black serial number.
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Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman
44-70517, R-AH
Værnes Station Flight, RNoAF
Værnes, Norway 1951
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. 1400mm roundels on wings, 700mm on fuselage.
500mm black registration code.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.VI
44-70384, R-AI
No. 333 Sqn. RNoAF
Sola, Norway 1953
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
680mm black registration code.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.VI
44-70510, R-AC
Sola Station Flight, RNoAF
Sola, Norway 1956
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Aluminium paint finish with black anti glare panel.
Orange tips on wings and tailplanes and on rudder.
900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
680mm black registration code. 100mm black serial number.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.VI
372, R-AR
Jarlsberg Station Flight, RNoAF
Jarlsberg, Norway 1954
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Yellow paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
680mm black registration code. 8" black serial number.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.IV
2487, R-AU
No. 333 Sqn. RNoAF
Sola, Norway 1954
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Yellow paint finish with black anti glare panel. 900mm roundels on wings and fuselage.
680mm black registration code. 8" black serial number.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.IV
3538, R-AY
LFK, RNoAF
Kjeller, Norway 1957
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Yellow paint finish with black anti glare panel.
150mm wide white and black stripes used for target towing operations.
900mm roundels on wings.
680mm black registration code. 8" black serial number.
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Noorduyn Norseman Mk.IV
2471, ex. R-AL
RNoAF
Rygge, Norway 1956
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White paint finish with black anti glare panel. 400mm UNITED NATIONS titles.
100mm black serial number.
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Upper surfaces for the initial markings scheme.
50" diameter US insignia on the port wing is operpainted with Norwegian roundel.
On the starboard side, a roundel is applied in a symmetric position.
Lower wing surfaces are similar.
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Typical upper surfaces with 900mm roundels, shown here for Mk.IV R-AU. The roundel position did vary from aircraft to aircraft.
The wing roundels could be positioned further
out towards the wing tip (although not further than the tip of the aileron),
and further back towards the control surfaces.
But normally all four wing roundel positions were symmetrical.
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Typical lower surfaces with 900mm roundels. Lower wing roundel positions were normally the same as
for the upper wing surfaces.
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