Walking and digging Seeflughafen Hommelvik, NORWEGEN

[slados28]

Thought I'd make a thread regarding a place that I've frequented a lot since my sparking a renewed interest in ww2 history a few years back. Countless hours have been spent since, walking this beach and digging through the dirt and rust at times only to find pieces with a remote semblance of their former self... sometimes I got lucky, sometimes I went home more or less empty handed -- with only a few rubber muzzle caps to show for it all.


Units stationed here at Seeflughafen Hommelvik throughout the war include:


1./Küsten-Flieger-Gruppe 406 (See) (July 1940 - end of war)

1.Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung 1./108 (June 1940 - May 1943)

1./TGr.20, formed from 1./KGrzbV108 in May 1943 (October -Desember 1943)

Seetransportstaffel 2 (October 1943 - ???)

Fliegerführer 5 (June 1944 - 20 Sept. 1944 (Trondheim -- possibly

Hommelvik)



Surely not a complete list by any means but it is what I've managed to dig up so far ---

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So... first up is a few shots of the aformentioned place I've spent so many hours walking around by myself, probably looking like a total jackass to anyone not privvy to what I was actually doing




A lonely mg34 bolt adorned with rust and delicacies of the sea


One of the many many deteriorating Gurtfuller 34s that is strewn all over the beach down there --- more or less beyond saving, unfortunately


Another Gurtfuller sticking it out down there through yet another harsh winter


A flock of birds in formation heading south to escape the cold...

[slados28]

A few period photos showing Reichskommissar (für die besetzten Norwegischen Gebiete)
Josef Terboven inspecting Seeflughafen Hommelvik sometime in July, 1942



(source: Fotoalbum fra Terbovens reise til Nord-Norge og Finland sommeren 1942 - a set on Flickr )




A few period originals from my own collection, most seem to have been shot by soldiers passing through by train:






Shots of my finds etc. to come

[Spitace41]

Look forward to seeing more. Have you cleaned any of the things you have found?

[inka]

Nice pics Fun to see my old "neighbourhood"

[slados28]

I have cleaned most of what I've found, at least the things that I was able to save --- steel obviously does not do well with decades of saltwater (except for various types of gun bolts I've found) but materials such as bakelite, wood and brass etc. seem to come out of it pretty nicely all things considered...

I will show photos of my findings (mostly after cleaning) later

[slados28]

Thanks for the replies guys

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Ok... so: I'm starting with an assortment of rubber muzzle caps, not the most exciting but I like 'em either way --- I leave nothing behind

Mg34/42


MG151


Variant of the above


MP40/44


K98/43 (+++)


Variant of the above



MG81




And lastly a group shot to show off the differences in size between them all

[slados28]

Half of a pair of binoculars, marked "Dienstglas 6x30". Found quite a ways from the place where the muzzle caps and all the other things were dumped so this one was possibly dropped by a Luftwaffe pilot or similar... there's quite a few plane wrecks out there as well so maybe it's from one of them --- one can only speculate. A cool find either way, just barely sticking out of the sand at low tide The leather tab was also found down there, marked "Leitz Wetzlar" and a year I can't quite make out

[slados28]

Bakelite grip for a Leuchtpistole (flare gun) --- I have yet to find the actual gun though...




A pair of Patronenaustosser 15s (for the MG15). A bunch of these were uncovered by last winter's stormy weather, a nice early spring surprise for me as these were intact and not broken as the ones I had found before.




While on the subject of bakelite, here's another piece to prove that I leave nothing behind... After doing some research I found that this is a part for a carbide lamp/lantern


Another piece in bakelite --- this one, however, I have not been able to identify (although I have my thoughts)... note the "Ein -- Aus" and area where there's been some kind of instructional plaque (?). Any suggestions?

[slados28]

Moving on from bakelite finds I present you with this rough piece. I had been trying to find out what it was ever since finding it a few years back, only last week did I finally find a match --- what I found is that this is the remains/part of a bolt for the Flak 38, only one I've found thus far

[inka]

Nice finds man