Where did British fighters operate from in Norway in April 1940?

On 24 April 1940, after two days at sea, the squadron flew its aircraft from the carrier to a landing strip on the frozen lake of Lesjaskogsvatnet, in Oppland, south-central Norway. Eighteen Gladiators took off from HMS Glorious on the afternoon of 24 April to support Allied troops fighting their way towards Trondheim. They landed on the frozen lake of Lesjaskog, 30 km west of Dombås. The improvised runway was formed by piling snow on either side, and by 19:00 all the aircraft were on the ground after a four-hour flight.

The squadron was very short of ground crew and equipment, and few of its Gladiators had been readied for combat before the Luftwaffe attacked with Heinkel He 111s shortly after dawn on 25 April. By the end of 26 April, No. 263 Squadron had managed to destroy two Heinkels, but all its aircraft had been destroyed or put out of action, and before the month was out it was ordered home.

The squadron returned to Scotland, was reorganised shortly afterwards and was sent back to Norway, aboard HMS Furious, for the May and June operations over Narvik. Re-equipped, it returned to the far north of the country on 21 May and flew from Bardufoss airfield, near Narvik, reinforced by No. 46 Squadron, whose Hurricanes arrived a few days later and used a strip in the municipality of Skånland; as the terrain at Skånland proved unsuitable, No. 46 relocated, and by 27 May both squadrons were operating from Bardufoss.