Date
Location
Force
Aircraft
From-To
Crew
12-04-1944
Aeroporto da Portela - Lisboa
USAAF
Douglas C-47A-80-DL Skytrain 43-15037
Marrakesh → GB
2Lt Donald C. Auble USA
Cpl. Robert W. Madden USA
2Lt Henry Curley USA
2Lt Lawrence Gold USA
S/Sgt Carl J. Bunn USA
The main tanks exhausted the fuel and the flight engineer did not made the connection to the reserve tanks immediately. As they created vacuum and it was impossible to pump the fuel from one side to the other.
They landed at 05.10 hours in the Portela Airport and the crew was interned in Caldas da Rainha before being repatriated on May 9, 1944.
The aircraft became part of the Portuguese Aeronáutica Militar with the number plate D-1 and latter 250. In 1952 it became part of the FAP (Portuguese Air Force, created on that year) with the number plate 6150.
Auble died on August 11, 1945, in Kumning, China, flying for the CBI (China – Birmania – India) Transport Command from USAAF. He was flying a C-46 that crashed during a flight over the Himalayas.
Resources:
* Don Auble (filho/son)
* “Aviões da Cruz de Cristo” – Mário Cannongia Lopes
* Arquivo ANA -Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea de Portugal - Lisboa
* voaportugal.org
