Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Unknown
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Unknown
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The plane crash at Skjørestadfjellet took place late in the evening of 4 November 1940 during the Second World War, when a German Heinkel He 111 bomber from Kampfgeschwader 26 (K.G.26) crashed in the mountain area near Hommersåk in Sandnes Municipality. The crashed aircraft was on its way back after having taken part in an attack on industrial targets in the north of Scotland when the accident happened. Four Germans died in the accident.
Cause of the accident
The cause of the crash was never fully established, but it was speculated that the aircraft flew too far east of Forus airfield and collided with the mountain after problems with the engine and a fire on board. The accident probably happened due to a combination of fatigue among the crew and poor weather conditions. In the German loss list, the cause of the crash is listed as involuntary ground contact, followed by a fire. Hetland was given as the accident site, which at the time belonged to Hetland Municipality.
Investigation and cause
Aftermath and investigations
The morning after the accident, wreckage and the dead were found by local residents. German soldiers came to the site to secure the accident site and carry the dead down from the mountain. In the days and years after the event, local historians and enthusiasts have carried out extensive investigations to map the course of events and identify the crew who died. After the war most of the wreck was removed from the accident site, and today little remains to recall the event. Riska Historie og Museumslag has, however, put up a memorial plaque at the site.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Norwegian Wikipedia article “Flystyrten ved Skjørestadfjellet” (revision 24409560, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Norwegian Wikipedia article: Flystyrten ved Skjørestadfjellet
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 24409560 · 2024-04-22 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- no Wikipedia article "Flystyrten ved Skjørestadfjellet" (page 2186445, revision 24409560), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia article: the date in its opening sentence (the infobox gives none to the day)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A Luftwaffe He 111 of KG 26 returning from a bombing attack on Scotland: a military flight. The article: "The crashed aircraft was on its way back after having taken part in an attack on industrial targets in the north of Scotland when the accident happened."
- Fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Norwegian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.