.
Photographs of the crashed plane near the mouth of the Neiva River.
(Revista "Vida Mundial Ilustrada", 26/06/1941)
Date
Location
Force
Aircraft
From-To
Crew
20-06-1941
Viana do Castelo
RAF OADU
Vickers Wellington IC X3211
Hampstead Norris (GB) → Gibraltar
Sgt P. F. Bold GB
F/O J. D. Hall GB
Sgt J. C. Sheridan Canada
Sgt R. H. Toshack Canada
Sgt W. J. Poole GB
Sgt C. G. Peak GB
Communication failures and compass problems required several maneuvers that depleted the plane's fuel. Bad weather also played a major role in the emergency landing in Portugal.
The pilot managed to land on the seafront at Neiva beach, near the mouth of the Neiva River, at 8 a.m. on June 20, 1941. The crew quickly abandoned the plane and set it on fire before authorities arrived. The fuselage burned to the ground.
The crew were reportedly repatriated the following day.
Toshack, Bold, Sheridan and Poole disappeared on the night of September 22–23, 1941, while flying with 38 Squadron during a raid on Tripoli, Italy.
They are commemorated on the Malta Memorial, the island from which they took off to carry out the bombing mission.
Carlos Guerreiro
Sources:
"Royal Air Forces Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean"- David Gunby & Pelham Temple § Evade & Escape Report - National Archives London Kew § "The Winnipeg Evening Tribune" trough Manitobia.ca § Commonwealth War Graves Commission § Canada's Air War 1941 § Diário de Lisboa
