Data/ Date

Local/ Location

Força/ Force

Avião/ Aircraft

Origem-Destino/ From-To

Tripulação/ Crew

02-04-1943 

Sítio da Murta - Serro do Monteiro - Estoi

RAF   OADU - Ferry Command

Douglas Boston IIIA  BZ306

Canada → Portreath, GB

P/O     R. Chartres      GB

Civil    B. Shokett        GB

Civil    W. C. Hay         GB

The crew was Flying the airplane from Canada trough the south rout. In the last leg, near Oporto, engine problems started and the pilot tried to get back to Gibraltar, but off Cape St. Vincent the engines cut off and after flying for a while the pilot gave orders to bale out. Shokett and Chartres landed north of Tavira. The last injured the right ankle. Hay jumped a little latter and landed near faro. The aircraft crashed near Estoi, in Cerro da Murta, exploded and was completely destroyed.

Chartres was send to a civilian hospital in Vila Real de Santo António until May 26, when he traveled to Lisbon by train. The next day he arrived in England. Shokett had already been repatriated days before, while Hay was interned in Elvas for some more time.

This aircraft was coming from the factory from Canada and should have been delivered to the RAF in England. The use of civilian airmen in these delivery flights was normal during the War because there was a lack of trained pilots during the war. For the aircraft coming from Canadian factories a special delivery service was created using older, experienced pilot’s that were not from the armed forces.

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