| Crash site | Hommelvik, Norway |
| Airline | DNL (Det Norske Luftfartselskap) |
| Aircraft | Short S.25 Sandringham – LN-IAW – Bukken Bruse |
| Route | Stavanger – Bergen – Oslo – Trondheim – Brønnøysund – Bodø – Harstad – Tromsø |
| Crew | 7 – 4 survivors |
| Passengers | 38 – 22 survivors |
The crash
The weather in the area around Trondheim was bad as the flying boat came in for landing in the bay of Hommelvik. When the plane was about to touch down on the water, it was hit by a wind gust, the pilots lost control and the right wing float broke off as it hit the water. The plane rolled over to the side and its nose ploughed into the water. The fuselage rapidly was filled with water and sank to a depth of 43 meters.
On the 10. October the flying boat was lifted and pulled into shallow water.
The mail
Most of the mail was recovered and taken to Trondheim post office. As the mail was watersoaked it had to be dried before further processing. The post office used a couple of special handstamps and very often the covers were also sealed with a label ”POSTOBLAT”.
According to postal circular No. 79 of 20. October 1948, the following mail was lost:
– One bag of letters from Bergen to Trondheim
– One bag of letters from Oslo to Kristiansund N (transit)
– One bag of letters from Oslo to Sunnmöre S
– One bag of letters from Oslo to Trondheim
A.
Norwegian handstamp.
Black.
Size: 44 x 3 mm.
Translation:
Mail from ”Bukken Bruse”
B.
Norwegian handstamp.
Black.
Size: 44 x 3 mm.
Translation:
Mail from ”Bukken Bruse”
C.
Postal paper seal.
Red on white paper.
Diameter: 39 mm.
Examples of mail
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Cover from Oslo with metermark OSLO -1.10.48 to Trondhjem. On both front and back are several strikes of the handstamp type A and on the back is the sealing label type C. |
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Cover from Drammen postmarked DRAMMEN 1 10 1948 to Trondheim. On both front and back are several strikes of the handstamp type A and on the back is the sealing label type C. |
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Cover with metermark HOLMSTRAND -1 10. 48 to unknown address. On both front and back are several strikes of the handstamp type A and on the back is the sealing label type C. |
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Cover from Oslo postmarked OSLO B R IIII -1 10 48 with unreadble address. The cover show two strikes of the rare handstamp typ B. |
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Cover from Oslo with metermark OSLO -1.10.48 sent to Nesna. The cover show the rarer crash handstamp type B and was forwarded in a Norwegian service cover type Nr. 16 A. |
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Cover from Denmark with metermark KØBENHAVN 1.10.48 and addressed to Trondheim. On the back is the usual round paper seal and several strikes of the handstamp type A. This cover is one of only two known items sent from outside Norway. |
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Cover from Holland with metermark ARNHEM 20.9.48 to Norway.On the front are two strikes of handstamp type A. |
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