He may have been a victim of "Black Friday". I copied this from an unknown source years ago...
RAF COASTAL COMMAND BLACK FRIDAY
9 February 1945
Coastal Command's Strike wings performed many memorable shipping strikes during the last two years of the war and one of the blackest days in the Strike wings' history, the appropriately named "Black Friday", was this day.
At 10:30 hours two Beaufighters from RAF No.489 Sqd. sighted a Narvik destroyer with heavy escort at the entrance to Vevringefjord and no less than five transports were seen in Nord-Gulen, the largest between 4000-5000 tons. Even before the two Beaus had landed, the planning of the attack had begun. The five merchant ships were an obvious target but the Admiralty had other priorities. They were more interested in destroying the few remaining warships of the Kriegsmarine. The nearby Strike Wing base at Banff was alerted as was Peterhead, home of RAF No.65. Sqd flying Mustang Mk IIIs . They would act as escort.
A large strike Force was assembled and consisted of the following forces. Nine Beaufighters with cannon and MGs, twenty-two Beaufighters armed with rockets and twelve Mustang MK IIIs. Another force consisting of Mosquitoes from various squadrons was to patrol the area between Ytteroyane and Stord, with special orders to attack the large transports. The large formation numbering forty-three planes were led by Wing Commander Colin Milson, an experienced "Aussie" who had fought in the Mediterranean and the Norwegian theatres. At this time in the war, Coastal Command had a great deal of experience with shipping strikes, having perfected them during three intense years of operations, but German fighters were still to be reckoned with.
The Luftwaffe had only about forty-five single-engined fighters in Norway south of Trondheim, barely more than the total number of planes in the strike force. But they were flying high-performance Focke-Wulfs or Messerschmitts and most of the pilots were battle-hardened veterans from the northern front, having fought the Russians for over three years. More specifically, 9.and 12. Staffel of the famous "Eismeer Geschwader" JG 5, was stationed at Herdla just outside Bergen. As the only Staffels in Norway at this time, they flew both late and early variants of the Fw 190. And at Gossen near Molde, 10. and 11. Staffel had their Bf 109G-6s and G-14s ready. Planes from both bases could reach Fordefjord and effect an interception if alerted in time.
At 15.40 hours the formation reached the Norwegian coastline west of Sognefjord. At this time the outriders started their search north and south looking for other vessels or even the destroyer. A German fighter was sighted to the north, but it quickly disappeared. A small convoy was seen to the south, but no trace of the destroyer. The outriders turned back and headed for base after completion of their missions.
The Beaufighter formation headed towards Fordefjord from the south. The German fortress at Furuneset fired a few rounds at the allied aircraft without inflicting any damage. The time was just past 16.00 hours. The formation turned north expecting to see the enemy at the entrance of Fordefjord. F/S Stan Butler from RAF No.144. Sqd related; "But as we turned north with the intention of turning west into the fjord when we reached it, and making our attack "out to sea", we suddenly found ourselves under fire from the ships which were almost underneath us".
This was indeed an unwelcome surprise. Having been outmaneuvered, Milson had no other choice but to initiate another attack run. Abandoning the attack was simply not an option. Because of the placement of the German vessels, Milson decided that it was impossible to launch an attack in the normal way out to sea. They had to get further east to make the attack run out the fjord. As the forty plane formation turned east, the German sailors prepared for the forthcoming attack; some continued firing their guns, the officers shouted their quick orders; one vessel ran aground near Frammarsvik and the crew hurriedly evacuated as did some from the destroyer Z-33 itself. After having turned east, Milson led his strike force south toward Forde and then west just south of the fjord. Milson now realized that an attack out the fjord was virtually impossible if they were to have any chance of success. They would have to continue on a westerly direction and then make a 180 degree turn northeast again to attack into the fjord; just the opposite of the usual practice. Milson ordered the Beaufighters into echelon port just before the wing turned into the final attack run. Finally they were ready.
The alarm had sounded at Herdla shortly before 15.50 hours. On this day 9./JG 5 had nine Focke-Wulfs at readiness, 12./JG 5 had three. Fw. Rudolf Artner, a very experienced pilot from the 'Eismeer' front was leading the 9. Staffel in his Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8, "White 10". Having been the favorite wingman of famous 'Eismeer' aces such as Heinrich Erhler and Walter Shuck, he was credited with 17 victories up to this date. Lt. Rudolf Linz used his faithful "Blue 4", an A-8 with close to 70 black victory bars on its white rudder, most of them from his time on the northern front. A few minutes later the Focke-Wulfs were in the air. 12. Staffel's three fighters were placed above and behind the other nine to provide top cover.
Milson made the first attack, behind him the others were queuing up to make theirs. There was simply not enough room in the fjord for more than two or three Beaufighters to attack at the same time. Projectiles of all calibers were streaming towards the planes, making the entire fjord a very dangerous place to be. But it was not a one-sided battle. The Beaufighters singled out their targets and according to one of the eyewitnesses "it seemed to us as if it was the boats in the middle of the fjord which got the worst of it". Some planes attacked from south-west, others from a more western direction, the latter used cannon and rockets against the Z-33.
By 16:10 hours another factor was to be brought into the battle. Having successfully attacked and evaded the enemy ships, they headed up the valley of Naustdal barely 50 m over the landscape. Beaufighter 'PL-Y' of RAF No.144. Sqd. piloted by P/O Smith and P/O "Spike" Holly acting as navigator photographed the chaotic scene behind them and as Holly looked over the tail, he saw a fighter a couple of hundred yards behind them. He wondered if this was a Mustang, but his hopes were shattered as he noticed the characteristic broad cowling of a radial-engined Focke-Wulf. A quick message to Smith over the intercom, and then things happened quickly. The German fighter attacked and he and Holly fired almost simultaneously. A cannon shell exploded near Holly, and splinters wounded him in the belly, knocking him unconscious. The cockpit and port Hercules was also hit, destroying the intercom and any hopes of regaining base.
At very low level they cut off some treetops and headed west, just north of Fordefjord. 'PL-Y' continued to fly for some time westwards, and Smith managed to effect a crash-landing on the sea in Hoydalsfjord. Here they were rescued by civilians, but as Holly's wound needed professional attention, the Norwegians had no option but to contact a doctor. That was equal to contacting the Germans. Smith and Holly were thus captured later that evening, and eventually transported to Bergen. But they had survived. Others were not so fortunate.
9./JG 5 had attacked directly into the swarm of Beaufighters waiting to attack the ships. A Beaufighter was seen to loose its tail and exploded shortly afterwards. A member of the crew, identified as a French-Canadian, was later found in the sea.