The Bristol Blenheim after the dificult landing in Vila Nova de Milfontes
(Photo: Privat Coleccion)
Date
Location
Force
Aircraft
From-To
Crew
26-02-1943
Vila Nova de Milfontes, Odemira
RAF 44Group
Bristol Blenheim V BB101
Cornwall (GB) → Gibraltar
Sgt Rupert Jackson Walters GB
Sgt Robert Brown GB
Sgt Harold Wilfred Hall GB
The starboard engine began to heat up as they passed off Lisbon and lost power near Vila Nova de Milfontes. The pilot managed to locate a flat area to land, but as the land had recently been plowed, the plane rolled over during landing.
Sergeants Walters and Hall managed to escape through the shattered cockpit, but Brown was trapped in the machine gun turret. With the help of an ax and several Portuguese men, it was possible to rescue him from the wreckage.
Hall was mostly unharmed. Walters suffered a cut to the head and Brown was in a more serious condition, with injuries to his spine and chest, as well as several cuts and scratches. A farmer who helped right after the accident transported the injured to a doctor in Vila Nova de Milfontes.
Resources:
* Evade & Escape Report - National Archives - London Kew
* "The Bristol Blenheim" - Graham Warner
* "The Portugal News"
.
Rupert Walters, wounded in the head, and Harold Hall. Photograph taken in Portugal.
(Coleção particular)
.
Robert Brown, was seriously injured.
(Photograph sent by his son Robert H. Brown)
Members of the Fiscal Guard Police were sent to the location to guard the wreckage and were also responsible for monitoring and collecting data from the crew. Hours later, and given the seriousness of the situation, Brown was taken by ambulance to the English Hospital in Lisbon, where he was hospitalized until repatriation on April 3.
Rupert Walters and Harold Hall also went to Lisbon in the same ambulance, escorted by members of the Fiscal Guard. They stayed in Lisbon until March 7th when they presented themselves in Elvas where they were interned until April 19th, when they returned to Lisbon under International Police guard.
The following day they were boarded on one of BOAC's British civil seaplanes that provided the connection between Lisbon and Poole, in the United Kingdom.
Harold Hall came to Portugal several times, visiting the places where he had been during the war. He also participated in an extensive TV report on the topic of planes that landed and crashed in Portugal during World War II, broadcast by the Portuguese station SIC.
Carlos Guerreiro
