Stranded Horsa (DP392) may have ditched in the sea days before

They were being towed by Halifax DJ994 when one of the engines of airplane caught fire and both had to ditch in the sea.

The crew from the glider was able to make a perfect ditching and the glider was intact and floating after the operation. The crew jumped into the dingy and joined the survivors from the Halifax. They were in the dingys for nine hours before a Spanish ship took 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 on August 28.

The glider probably was discovered in the Portuguese coast near Vieira de Leiria on August 23, when other such glider landed in Portugal. The police report of that day refers the discovery of two gliders but the detection of only three crewmembers and the Operational Record Book from 295 Squadron only confirms the loss of one Glider that day with three men on board.

Air 1943