Per Hysing-Dahl, DFC &

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

(born 31 July 1920 in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, died 7 April 1989) was a Norwegian resistance member,

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, industry manager and politician for the Conservative Party. He was elected to the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

in 1969, and was re-elected on three occasions. During the term 8 October 1981–30 September 1985 he was

President of the Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

. On the local level he was a member of Fana municipality council from 1959 to 1967. He chaired the county party chapter from 1971 to 1972.

War effort

Hysing-Dahl left Norway aboard the MK "Soløy" on 2 August 1941 and arrived at Baltasund in

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

on 4 August. In Great Britain he joined the

air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

. After flying school at Little Norway in

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, Hysing-Dahl was sent to one of the RAF's training squadrons in Bomber Command, 10 OTU (Operational Training Unit), before being ordered to 161 Squadron RAF, stationed at

Tempsford Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about east north-east of the county town of Bedford. The village is split by the A1 Great North Road and is located just bef ...

. The squadron was split in two; A-flight operated with

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British Army cooperation aircraft, army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operat ...

and

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and ...

, landing and picking up agents of the SOE in

German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...

. B-flight flew

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

bombers converted for drop operations, and engaged in dropping agents and supplies to resistance groups. Hysing-Dahl's first tour of duty of 30 sorties was with the Halifax aircraft in B-flight, and ended in January 1944. Normally one was sent to rest after a period ended, but Hysing-Dahl immediately began a new round, this time in A -the flight with the Lysander planes. In July 1944, Hysing-Dahl was to fly three French agents to a landing site in the Loire. The standard procedure was that someone at the landing site, which was usually a small field, just before landing should fire flares so the pilot had an idea of where to go down. But that didn't happen, so Hysing-Dahl turned back towards England. On the way home, the plane was hit by shell fire. Shrapnel cut the oil line, so the engine cut across the English Channel. As the agents did not have parachutes, Hysing-Dahl had to try to land the plane on the lake. He managed to avoid the plane tipping over, so he and the three passengers were able to get out. An air bottle to inflate the life raft Hysing-Dahl had in the parachute pack did not work. Before Hysing-Dahl had inflated the raft, one of the French sank. He got the remaining two aboard the raft, which was actually designed for one person. Only in the morning the following day were they discovered and rescued by a patrol boat from the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. After a period of rest, during which he flew

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

and

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...

aircraft from factories in England to RAF units in

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for Ferry Command, in March 1945 Hysing-Dahl was back with 161 Squadron and B-flight. There, the Halifax planes had been replaced by the

Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the earlier Handley ...

. The war was almost over, and the squadron concentrated on releases to the resistance movement in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and Norway. After the capitulation, Hysing-Dahl was ordered to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

, where he was to assist Colonel

Odd Bull Lieutenant General Odd Bull (28 June 1907 – 8 September 1991) was a career officer in the Royal Norwegian Air Force who rose to the position of Chief of Air Staff. He is probably best known outside Norway for his role as Chief of Staff of the Uni ...

. Hysing-Dahl discharged as captain in the summer of 1946.

References

* 1920 births 1989 deaths People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School Presidents of the Storting Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Bergen 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople Royal Norwegian Air Force personnel of World War II Norwegian aviators Norwegian World War II pilots Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Commanders of the Legion of Honour Members of the Storting 1981–1985 Members of the Storting 1977–1981 Members of the Storting 1973–1977 Members of the Storting 1969–1973 {{Norway-politician-1920s-stub