Served with 330 (Norwegian) Squadron out of Iceland for patrol duties. This aircraft was raised from a river where it sank in 1943. Northrop restored it to static condition and from 1980 this rare bird is part of the Gardermoen collection.
In 1979, the wreck of N-3PB 'U' of 330 Squadron (based at RAF Reykjavík, with flights at Akureyri and Budareyi) was recovered from the Þjórsá River in Iceland, were the aircraft made a forced landing on 21 April, 1943.
Taken early in the morning after a supercrane finally lifted the centersection and wing from the bottom of the murky Thjorsa glacial river where it had lain since 1943. It was then dismantled and sent to Northrop at Hawthorne California in a RNoAF C-130H.
Photographed in front of Hangar 4 at Reykjavík where it was displayed for a week on its way to Norway from Northrop in Hawthorne, California where it was beautifully restored to a pristine condition by veteran employees of Northrop.
Photographed in front of Hangar 4 at Reykjavík where it was displayed for a week on its way to Norway from Northrop in Hawthorne, California where it was beautifully restored to a pristine condition by veteran employees of Northrop.
On the day after its rollout after the rebuild by retired Northrop employees, the N-3PB was displayed in a parking lot adjacent to the Northrop headquarters building at Hawthorne.