On 8 April 1940 eight aircraft of 1./ZG 76, under the command of "Staffelkapitän" Werner Hansen, deployed northward from Jever to Westerland on Sylt in preparation for operation "Weserübung", the invasion of Norway. The German plan for the attack called for an amphibious assault on the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and six major ports from Kristiansand in the south to Narvik in the north. Simultaneously, Junkers 52 (Ju 52) transport aircraft would drop parachute troops to secure Oslo's Fornebu airport. Additional Ju 52s were scheduled to arrive at Fornebu twenty minutes after the parachute drop, by which time the airfield had to be in German hands. 1./ZG 76 was to provide air cover and ground-attack support for both waves. Eight Bf 110 "Zerstörer" of 1./ZG 76 took off at 7:00 in the morning, planning to synchronise their arrival at Fornebu with the parachute drop at 8:45. The distance from Westerland to Fornebu meant that this was a one-way operation; the Bf 110s could not hold enough fuel for the return trip. Their fuel was calculated to provide them 20 minutes flying time over Fornebu, and the pilots would have to land at Fornebu once the airfield had been seized.