Date

Location

Force

Aircraft

From-To

Crew

16-08-1943

In the sea 40 miles of Portugal

RAF     295 Sqn

Handley Page Halifax       DJ994

Portreath (GB) → Sale (Norte de Àfrica)

Sgt       Manassah Cox                      GB  †

Sgt       Amiens Albert Crocker        GB

F/Sgt   Verdun Hugh Searles            GB

Sgt       Richard Arhur Williamson    GB

Sgt       Edward Wislop                     GB

Sgt       Reginald Anthony Evans       GB

They towed the Horsa Glider DP329 when one of the engines caught fire near the Portuguese coast, and they had to ditch.

The aircraft fuselage broke and one sunk very fast taking with it the navigator, Sgt. Cox. The rest of the crew was able to get into the dinghies and joined the three crew members from the glider that had made a perfect landing. They were in the dinghies for nine hours before a Spanish ship picked them from the sea and landed them in Bilbao, two and a half days later. In that city they contacted the consulate that send them to Madrid. From the Spanish Capital they were sent to Gibraltar where they arrived at August 28.

Cox is remembered in the Runnymede Memorial.

Resources:
* 295 ORB - National Archives -  London, Kew
* Evade & Escape Report - National Archives -  London, Kew