Date
Location
Force
Aircraft
From-To
Crew
28-12-1941
In the sea
RAF 233 Sqn
Lokheed Hudson AE641
Gibraltar → Gibraltar
F/O Corken GB
Sgt Barling GB
On December 28, 1941, the plane had a malfunction of the port engine when during an anti-submarine patrol with two other aircraft that had left Gibraltar at 9 hours in the morning. At 11.52 hours a distress call arrived in Gibraltar and by twelve he ditched in the vicinity of a Portuguese ship "Congo", traveling from Lisbon to Sao Tome and other portuguese Ex-African colonies.
The pilot was seriously injured during the ditching and was removed from the aircraft by the remaining three crew members. Fifteen minutes after the incident the Congo was already picking up the RAF men treating them on board. The incident was also accompanied by another plane. According to the press, the first pilot of the ship knew English and was the translator on the following days while the communications officer informed the British Navy of the presence of the airmen on board, something that the ship's captain subsequently denied, stating that only the Portuguese Naval authorities had been contacted.
On December 31, 1941, the Congo came across two British destroyers, the HMS Exmoor and Croome, transferring the four airmen to the latter. On January 2, 1942 the crew was back in Gibraltar.
Resources:
* Biblioteca Central e Arquivo Histórico de Marinha
* Lockheed Huson in Wolrd War II.Andrew Hendrie
* 233 Sqn Operational Record Book
