Conversation with Norman Didwell - Jens Hansen
Title
Conversation with Norman Didwell - Jens Hansen
Description
Norman relates some of the story of Jens Henning Fisker "Morian" Hansen shooting down a Me 110. He goes on to discuss various prisoners of war, including some who were murdered by the Gestapo after the escape from Stalag Luft 3 in March 1944.
Language
Type
Format
00:05:11 audio recording
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SBondS-DidwellNv10006
Transcription
ND: He kept in touch with a photography shop in Ely and his daughter kept in touch with me for a long long time then she passed away. So I bet there are a lot of the old people, you know —
SB: Yeah.
Yeah.
Who did you say the Wimpy behind.
ND: Yeah.
SB: That shot down the 110 that shot that Wimpy down.
ND: Yeah
SB: Who was that? Do you —
ND: Morian Hansen.
SB: Right.
ND: Morian Hansen was a Danish speedway rider.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And like a lot of these speedway riders before the war they could afford to buy a Tiger Moth and I believe there was him, oh about five of them. Roger Frogley and Buster Frogley. A chap who lived, the family came [unclear] Snuffy Kempster. You can check up on that. Snuffy won the gold helmet one year.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And I knew his widow and his daughter and they all had aircraft before the war but —
SB: Right.
ND: They were too old for operational flying.
SB: Oh right. Ok.
ND: I think he did eventually get his RAF wings.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And I believe he was delivering Spits and that from MUs.
SB: This was July 25/26 1940. What was the target then? 1940 July.
ND: I forget where it was but that was so they got on [pause] the chap did tell me. I think there was off the Danish coast because it might have been Stavanger then.
SB: Yeah. Well, they’d have still been going around the long way at that time.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Wouldn’t they? Yeah.
ND: Yeah. He was in Stalag Luft 3.
SB: Oh, was he?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah. And of course you knew Kirby-Green and Ian Cross and Jack Grisham. He knew Jack Grisham well because they were both ex-Halton apprentices. Jack Ashton and Jack Grisham.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And they, Jack Grisham you see was commissioned like when he got shot down he was a flight sergeant but he was promoted while he was a prisoner of war.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And well he served, [ ] long service and Jack Grisham, his wife, Maria was expecting their first child. They’d been married about twelve months and he as a man with Kirby-Green and Alan Cross .
SB: Unofficial. Yeah.
ND: And Kirby-Green had got a little boy.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He was Christopher. He was only about a few months old when Kirby-Green got shot down because Kirby-Green was a flying officer at Mildenhall when I joined the squadron and Christopher was at public school then. Boarding school when he was about six when he found out that his father had been murdered.
SB: Oh dear.
ND: Yeah. And the Head sent for him and the matron told the other kids in his bedroom that, ‘If he cries you’re not to take the mickey out of him.’ Sort of thing because he’s lost his father was murdered by the Germans.
SB: Oh.
ND: So the bully boys had to keep their mouths shut.
SB: Yeah [pause]
ND: Yeah.
SB: That’s a good picture that. I like that.
ND: A painting of a black and white. No. I’m just trying from a description he told me. That was it. Yeah.
SB: Right. Right.
ND: But I’ve done another one which I’ve got a photograph of it upstairs which Jack took and I’ve done a painting of that for someone oh years ago. I forget what it stands for. You’ve seen. You know this one. That’s 75 New Zealand Squadron.
SB: Oh yeah. I’ve done, yeah.
ND: From a black and white.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Photograph at [unclear] but it put in the wrong place over the road. I’ll get the photograph down.
SB: Yeah, alright.
[pause]
ND: I think Jack took this photograph out of a Wimpy book and I’ve got an idea that this was a painting by [unclear]
SB: Oh yeah. Yeah.
ND: But he photographed it out of this magazine.
SB: Yeah.
Yeah.
Who did you say the Wimpy behind.
ND: Yeah.
SB: That shot down the 110 that shot that Wimpy down.
ND: Yeah
SB: Who was that? Do you —
ND: Morian Hansen.
SB: Right.
ND: Morian Hansen was a Danish speedway rider.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And like a lot of these speedway riders before the war they could afford to buy a Tiger Moth and I believe there was him, oh about five of them. Roger Frogley and Buster Frogley. A chap who lived, the family came [unclear] Snuffy Kempster. You can check up on that. Snuffy won the gold helmet one year.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And I knew his widow and his daughter and they all had aircraft before the war but —
SB: Right.
ND: They were too old for operational flying.
SB: Oh right. Ok.
ND: I think he did eventually get his RAF wings.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And I believe he was delivering Spits and that from MUs.
SB: This was July 25/26 1940. What was the target then? 1940 July.
ND: I forget where it was but that was so they got on [pause] the chap did tell me. I think there was off the Danish coast because it might have been Stavanger then.
SB: Yeah. Well, they’d have still been going around the long way at that time.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Wouldn’t they? Yeah.
ND: Yeah. He was in Stalag Luft 3.
SB: Oh, was he?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah. And of course you knew Kirby-Green and Ian Cross and Jack Grisham. He knew Jack Grisham well because they were both ex-Halton apprentices. Jack Ashton and Jack Grisham.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And they, Jack Grisham you see was commissioned like when he got shot down he was a flight sergeant but he was promoted while he was a prisoner of war.
SB: Oh right.
ND: And well he served, [ ] long service and Jack Grisham, his wife, Maria was expecting their first child. They’d been married about twelve months and he as a man with Kirby-Green and Alan Cross .
SB: Unofficial. Yeah.
ND: And Kirby-Green had got a little boy.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He was Christopher. He was only about a few months old when Kirby-Green got shot down because Kirby-Green was a flying officer at Mildenhall when I joined the squadron and Christopher was at public school then. Boarding school when he was about six when he found out that his father had been murdered.
SB: Oh dear.
ND: Yeah. And the Head sent for him and the matron told the other kids in his bedroom that, ‘If he cries you’re not to take the mickey out of him.’ Sort of thing because he’s lost his father was murdered by the Germans.
SB: Oh.
ND: So the bully boys had to keep their mouths shut.
SB: Yeah [pause]
ND: Yeah.
SB: That’s a good picture that. I like that.
ND: A painting of a black and white. No. I’m just trying from a description he told me. That was it. Yeah.
SB: Right. Right.
ND: But I’ve done another one which I’ve got a photograph of it upstairs which Jack took and I’ve done a painting of that for someone oh years ago. I forget what it stands for. You’ve seen. You know this one. That’s 75 New Zealand Squadron.
SB: Oh yeah. I’ve done, yeah.
ND: From a black and white.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Photograph at [unclear] but it put in the wrong place over the road. I’ll get the photograph down.
SB: Yeah, alright.
[pause]
ND: I think Jack took this photograph out of a Wimpy book and I’ve got an idea that this was a painting by [unclear]
SB: Oh yeah. Yeah.
ND: But he photographed it out of this magazine.
Collection
Citation
S Bond and N Didwell, “Conversation with Norman Didwell - Jens Hansen,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 13, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/49108.