Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this lecture Dr Ole Jørgen Maaø discusses the experience of Norwegians who flew with Bomber Command and the policy of the Norwegian government regarding their participation.
This free lecture, is part of the RAF Museum's Research Lecture Programme. If you'd like to support the RAF Museum, you can make a donation at: support.rafmuseum.org/Donate-Now
Talk Outline
During the Second World War around 60 Norwegians flew with Bomber Command, and 34 lost their lives. Although we do have some knowledge of these men and their experience during the war from existing literature (mainly in Norwegian), these sources are mainly anecdotical and/or autobiographical.
Almost no scholarly work has been done on either the Norwegian war policy regarding the participation in Bomber Command, or on the experiences of these men or their fate. In sharp contrast, a lot has been written about the 4 Norwegian squadrons that the two Norwegian Air Arms established within the RAF during the war (two with Coastal Command and two with Fighter Command).
This lecture discusses the policy of the Norwegian government with respect to how the Norwegian exile forces should participate in the war, especially regarding supplying personnel from the Air Arms to Bomber Command.
The lecture also touches upon the history of some of the Norwegian airmen who served with Bomber Command, of whom over half paid the ultimate prize.
Service with Bomber Command were voluntary for the Norwegians. Why did they join? How did they cope with the extreme stress of the missions and the knowledge that a lot of them would lose their lives? And what about the survivors, how did they cope with the scars of war?
About Ole Jørgen Maaø
Dr Ole Jørgen Maaø is an associate professor with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy in Trondheim, Norway. Maaø is a former Air Force officer, and has been employed at the Academy since 1997.
He has had a long interest in the history of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, and of air power in general. Maaø’s main publications are published in Norwegian.
Among his international publications are Conceptualising Modern War. London/New York: Hurst Publishing/Columbia University Press (2011 - together with Karl Erik Haug) and Ole Jørgen Maaø (2008) «Leadership in Air Operations – In Search of Air Power Leadership», Royal Air Force Air Power Review, vol. 11 (3), p. 34-53. From 2017 till 2018 Maaø was a guest researcher at King’s College, London, mainly doing research on the Norwegian Air Arms in exile during the Second World War.
In 2018 Maaø gave a lecture in the series Trenchard Lecture in Air Power Studies, entitled «The Royal Air Force and Norwegian Air Force(s) during the Second World War». That same year he also spoke at RUSI with the title «There is more to Air Power than Technology»
This lecture was first broadcast in 2022.
In this lecture Dr Ole Jørgen Maaø discusses the experience of Norwegians who flew with Bomber Command and the policy of the Norwegian government regarding their participation.
This free lecture, is part of the RAF Museum's Research Lecture Programme. If you'd like to support the RAF Museum, you can make a donation at: support.rafmuseum.org/Donate-Now
Talk Outline
During the Second World War around 60 Norwegians flew with Bomber Command, and 34 lost their lives. Although we do have some knowledge of these men and their experience during the war from existing literature (mainly in Norwegian), these sources are mainly anecdotical and/or autobiographical.
Almost no scholarly work has been done on either the Norwegian war policy regarding the participation in Bomber Command, or on the experiences of these men or their fate. In sharp contrast, a lot has been written about the 4 Norwegian squadrons that the two Norwegian Air Arms established within the RAF during the war (two with Coastal Command and two with Fighter Command).
This lecture discusses the policy of the Norwegian government with respect to how the Norwegian exile forces should participate in the war, especially regarding supplying personnel from the Air Arms to Bomber Command.
The lecture also touches upon the history of some of the Norwegian airmen who served with Bomber Command, of whom over half paid the ultimate prize.
Service with Bomber Command were voluntary for the Norwegians. Why did they join? How did they cope with the extreme stress of the missions and the knowledge that a lot of them would lose their lives? And what about the survivors, how did they cope with the scars of war?
About Ole Jørgen Maaø
Dr Ole Jørgen Maaø is an associate professor with the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy in Trondheim, Norway. Maaø is a former Air Force officer, and has been employed at the Academy since 1997.
He has had a long interest in the history of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, and of air power in general. Maaø’s main publications are published in Norwegian.
Among his international publications are Conceptualising Modern War. London/New York: Hurst Publishing/Columbia University Press (2011 - together with Karl Erik Haug) and Ole Jørgen Maaø (2008) «Leadership in Air Operations – In Search of Air Power Leadership», Royal Air Force Air Power Review, vol. 11 (3), p. 34-53. From 2017 till 2018 Maaø was a guest researcher at King’s College, London, mainly doing research on the Norwegian Air Arms in exile during the Second World War.
In 2018 Maaø gave a lecture in the series Trenchard Lecture in Air Power Studies, entitled «The Royal Air Force and Norwegian Air Force(s) during the Second World War». That same year he also spoke at RUSI with the title «There is more to Air Power than Technology»
This lecture was first broadcast in 2022.
