PB4Y-1 from Port Lyautey lost in Portugal

[russochief]

Hello there,

I am assembling one 1:72 scale model of the PB4Y-1 that crashed in the ocean 1 mile from land, in Faro south of Portugal. November 30th 1930.
Today it is possible to dive and see the wings and motors.
That plane was n. 63931 from VPB-112 - FAW 5 - Port Lyautey - French Morocco.

I would like to be as much accurate as possible, so i would need no know the colour scheme and details for a PB4Y-1 from that unit and year. Photos would be excellent :-)

Can anyone help me please?

Many thanks

Jorge Russo

[Kari Lumppio]

Hello!

Would this be of any help?:

"U. S. Naval Air Station, Port Lyautey, Kenitra, Morocco"
http://www.portlyautey.com/

The Newsletter (click the word on lower edge) has many photos. One set is " NAVAL AIR FACILITY, PORT LYAUTEY, MOROCCO 1949 - 1951" (I suppose you meant year 1950 instead of 1930?) http://www.portlyautey.com/Brady.htm Perhaps it contains something you can use. Note that there are several pages, click the symbol at lower edge again.


Hope this helps some,
Kari

[russochief]

Thanks so much,

I will see those links immediately.

I meant 1943 :-) sorry

Jorge Russo

[Alex Smart]

From Joe baughers site -

Five crew killed.

Hope they were recovered .

Alex

[russochief]

Unfortunately I think not, they where missing and never found.

Jorge Russo

[Amrit1]

Russ

It was VB, not VPB. VPB designation was not used until late 1944.

And:

Location: South coast of Portugal Strike: Yes BUNO: 63931 CAUSE: Lost, fuel exhaustion, pilot attempted a landing on what was thought to be a beach. With landing gear fully extended, flaps set at one-half down, flares released, but did not illuminate. Plane landed on water off shore from the beach at a speed of 125 knots, fuselage broke and pilots compartment shattered. Some personnel were thrown clear and plane sank in eighteen meters of water. Survivors rescued by fishing boat.

Crew:
Pilot Lt Richard Trum USNR/Minor inj,
Lt(jg) John Woodrow Eden/Minor inj,
Rm3c Earl Edgar Bowers/Serious Inj,
Rm3c George Austin Doane/Killed,
Aom3c Donald Eugene Peterson/Killed,
Amm3c Frank William Taylor/Killed,
Amm2c Lyle Gordon VanHook/Minor inj,
Amm3c William Richardson Stultz/Seriously inj,
Amm3c Rex Lee McCoy/Seriously inj,
Aom3c Julian O'Neal Pierce/Minor inj,
Ens.Clarence Arthur Miller/Killed.

http://www.vpnavy.org/vp112_mishap_1940.html

A

[russochief]

Thanks

I saw that of course.

What I am looking for is the colour scheme for that plane.

But thanks anyway.


Jorge Russo

[carlos G.]

Hi,

I was in contact for a long time with Lyle Van Hook. Unfortunnatly he died one year ago. His story and the rest was published last year in a book I wrote about the aircrfat that landed or crashed in Portugal during WWII. As a journalist, and before the book, I published the story in the magazine of a portuguese newspaper. That article was translated and sent to Lyle who made some correctios. In his memory and with a bog thank you to him and to his family, and also to the rest of the crew member's here goes the story, seen from both sides - portuguese and american...


Best regards
Carlos

The following was written by Carlos Guerreiro and appeared as a three page article in a magazine publication in his country of Portugal. This English translation of that article has been provided via E-mail to Lyle VanHook by Carlos. The only editing of the article has been to correct minor errors of spelling. With great appreciation to Carlos, I submit this article as evidence of his continued effort to make the world aware of the part that the Portuguese people played in the lives of several American Naval Airmen during World War II............Lyle VanHook

Note:
Before reading the article you should understand that from the beginning of the 30’s until 1974 Portugal was a fascist country where secrecy and distorted information was part of the local policy. Most of the country economy was based in agriculture and more than 60 per cent of the people could not read or write. The fact that we had colonies in Africa and India, and a long 800 years alliance with England, kept Portugal away from the war. We had no army or air force in condition to participate in a conflict and so all the efforts where made to be“friendly” with both sides. This note is important so that you can understand some of the things that are described in the text. I also ask some forgiveness for some of my English errors.


Article: The Americans fisher

56 years ago, during World War two, a B-24 crashed near Faro. It was hunting German submarines in the Mediterranean. A fisherman from the Algarve saved the lives of six American fliers – five others where never discovered neither was the plane. One act of bravery that was only recognized now by the US Navy. But Jaime Nunes does not forget the treason from the Portuguese authorities of those days. Today with 89 years, the episode only brought him problems.
Someone must have kept the money. The fisherman Jaime Nunes, with 89 years, does not accuse anybody but assures that it must have been that way. “The Americans told me that they would send me something and I’m sure they did, but those were other times and we could not speak up”, he insists. Not even the homage he received on the 6 of June 1999, made by the American Embassy and promoted by one of the men he saved more than 50 years ago, makes him forget the treason of the Portuguese authorities of the time. He saved the lives of six American fliers and only “had problems while the money finished in the hands of others”.
The plaque offered by the American Navy half a century after the event is a kind of a vengeance against the system that had forgotten him.


More important than the plaque was the reencounter with one of the men he saved. From the other side of the world, and trough a video conference system, Lyle van Hook remembered the moments when he almost lost his life where there not be the fisherman. “I have no ability to speak your language and I really am not certain as to how to pronounce your name but to me and the others whose lives that you saved that night, your name is synonymous with hero”, said the American flier.
The patrol had started in the morning of 30 November 1943. Four aircraft from the US Navy VB-112 had left for their missions. Each one had flown to a different area. This where long and solitary voyages. The search for enemy boats in the Mediterranean was the main mission. The squadron had arrived in Port Lyautey – today Kenitra in Marroco – less that 15 days before and this kind of long missions where still fresh.
It would be a agitated day. At mid day the command sent radio messages to the four airplanes alerting them for the fact that a big fog was expected over the base in the afternoon.
Two of the airplanes shortened their patrols and landed in Marrakech. A third one, with the S/N BuNu.63950, would only answer when the night was arriving. They had no fuel to reach another base large enough to land the plane. They tried to reach a small British airfield located near the area where they where but the voyage would finish in the sea with six crewmen disappearing with the plane.
The fourth plane, with the S/N BuNu 63931 “never got any warning” remembers Lyle Van Hook, and the radio signal used by the navigator to fly the airplane back to the base had conducted them to a coastal area they could not identified. Without knowing they had followed a similar frequency transmitted by a Spanish radio station. The night had fallen and the fuel was almost finished.
In the sea, in front of the city of Faro, Jaime Nunes, also known as Ti’ Jaime, was following the lights of the plane for a couple of minutes already – also his companions his compadre José Mascarenhas and his son Manuel where doing the same.
“They flew around with the lights on. They where going in the direction of Quarteira and then came back. We heard them launching the bombs. They tried to land in the beach but could not and had to go up again”, remembers the fisherman.
Lyle Van Hook, Crew-Captain of the PB4Y-1 – the Navy version of the four engine B-24 Liberator – had already warned the commander, Lt. Richard Trum, that all the eleven men where ready to jump when he give the sign. Finally they had concluded that they where flying over the Portuguese coast. They had no chance to get to the base with the gas they had.
Trum Was flying over the region. He was trying to find the best solution in order that all could safely abandon the ship. It looked to him that there where many mountains near the coast. That made one approach coming from the sea very difficult. On the other hand, and if he made it contrary direction, it was possible that one or more crew members could fall in to the sea. Besides he was now sure that he had seen a beach big enough to land the plane. He told Van Hook to warn the crew that he was going to try a land. “We all agreed that was the best solution”, remembers the Crew-Captain.
Maybe because of the darkness the plane ended up in the sea miles away from any save beach.
“That made a noise. It was a monster. Fire and sparks where everywhere. There was a smell of oil and smoke that you can not imagine”. Almost two hundred meters from the spot where the plane crashed, Jaime Nunes got the scare of his life. Even today it is difficult for him to describe what he saw. Afterwards he started hearing some screams. Many persons where in the water trying to keep themselves at the surface.
Lyle van Hook, without knowing exactly how, was floating near the fuselage that was in the water with the nose down. From what he was able to see “the plane was broken in half and there was no sign of the back part”. On his side was Rex McCoy. Both got up in one of the wings that was still floating, but they had to leave after a while.
“Lt. Trum started to warn us that one of the wheels was floating. I answered him that McCoy was wounded and could not swim”, remembers the Crew-Captain. When the pilot was trying to near the wheel from the other survivors he saw a boat approaching and swam in that direction. “He told us to keep shouting so he could locate us in the dark”.
On the small boat of Jaime Nunes there was some hesitation at the beginning. “Manuel was still a boy. He was trying and telling that they would kill us all. We stayed there for a moment not knowing what to do but then we got into their direction”, he explains. Almost immediately they took two men on board. The third one to get in was the “captain that had shoes with buckets”. It was probably the pilot because from that moment on it was he that oriented the rescue operation.
“He grabbed the paddle and started doing signs to us in this and that direction. With all those clothes they where heavy as hell”. Seriously wounded McCoy had it very difficult to get into the boat. Jaime Nunes remembers that part very well. “I got him from the front and my compadre from the back. He was very strong. He grabbed my trousers and ripped them of. If he had catch my flesh he would have taken everything”, tells he smiling while he points to the groin area.
The last one to get into the boat was William “Bill” Stultz. “He was going with the tide over some debris. He did not tell anything during all the trip. We never heard even a complaint. He was white. One of his legs had hardly any flesh left under the knee. He must have been in a lot of pain” says the fisherman.
They had collected six from the eleven men on board. Lyle van Hook, Richard Trum, Rex McCoy, William Stultz, John Eden and Julian Pierce where now relatively secure. From Earl Edgar Bowers, George Austin Doane, Donald Eugene Peterson, Frank William Taylor and Clarence Arthur Miller there where no signs. They would never be discovered, like the plane that, officially, are still missing more than 50 years after, besides the efforts of many local divers to locate him.
In the city of Faro the maneuver of the plane have had also be seen. The alarm was given at 22 hours and 20 minutes. A group from the Fire Brigade was already in the harbor waiting for news from the boat of the sea police that was already at sea. At two in the morning they where back to their headquarters. The service file says “there where no transports (to the hospital) because their search found nothing”.
Jaime Nunes remembers the engine sound of the police boat very far away, but he was to busy to give it attention. His boat had now nine people on board. “They where all wounded, with lots of blood. We tried to change some words but it was difficult. The captain looked at me and started to say Portugal many times pointing to shore. We shook a yes with our head. He embraced us with satisfaction. If they had fallen in Spain they would have fried them”, tells he with conviction.
Lyle Van Hook also remembers the efforts to establish some communication. Finally they understood each other with gestures. “They gave us blankets and everything they had. I remember asking for cigars and they gave us their makings of tobacco and cigarette papers. We smoked a lot that night”, he explains.
They would have a long night in front of them. The boat only moved with paddles. Then they had to wait for hours until the tide got up in order to enter the Ria Formosa – a island sand bank system that covers some miles in front of the city.
At three in the morning they finally reached the city harbor. “ I jumped into land and told my compadre to continue to a place inside the harbor” says Jaime Nunes. He warned a police officer and both ran to the Fire Brigade Headquarter. “There where only a couple of boys that could not even get the men. Me and my compadre had to take some at our backs into the hospital”.
“We saw people on the upper side of a wall. I was grabbed under my arms. My feet dangling, as they ran to the doors of the hospital. I think my feet hit the paving blocks or cobble stones about every third step. That hurt my feet because I was without shoes”, remembers Lyle van Hook.
The doctors where called in a hurry to the hospital that was still working, on those days, in the facilities of the Santa Casa of the Misericórdia – A kind of catholic help group. It was also necessary to get the light generators of the city on then because of the ration times they where unswitched at the 3 in the morning.
Jaime Nunes and his compadre where thrown out. During several days they had no contact with the Americans. They although remember the visit from lots of people. “In the first day there where lots of persons. All where cordial but some where overly inquisitive about the place from where we where and where the plane crashed. There where also some questions about our birthplaces and our addresses. We did not answer most of this questions” says the American. Between the visitors was even a wine merchant that got them a basket full with bottles.
This coming and going only finished when the Military Attaché arrived. While the Americans where starting to rest, the Portuguese fisherman where going into trouble. After the accident they had told the Portuguese authorities that the plane had come down at ten to twelve miles from the coast. The Military Attaché asked them to change the story. Instead of then or twelve they should say it happened more than 20 miles away.
Without knowing they where giving the military attaché arguments to free the American crew at once. More than 20 miles was out of the national waters. Instead of internees they would became “mariners in distress”. As soon as they recovered they could go back to action. The fisherman where now under the suspicious look of the Portuguese authorities..
Finally the two fisherman where able to visit the crew. At this time most of the population was very angry with all the events. “They where going with us all over the place. Telling that at first we saved the men and know we where being treated as bandits”, remembers the fisherman.
Lyle Van Hook also remembers the visit. They came in and offered us a picture with them inside the boat. I still have it today.
Ti’ Jaime has a more colorful memory. “There were lots of persons. Many important ones with golden shoulders and so. They where in front of a table full with food. The wife of the British consul from Vila Real de Santo António (another city near of Faro) gave me so many kisses that even my mother had never kissed me like that” laughs Jaime Nunes. The encounter was short. “The captain hugged me crying. I was starting to feel myself bad with all that important people around. I told him I wanted to leave. He offered each of us a bottle of Port wine and many cigarette packs”.
At 6 December the crew was driven to Lisbon by Bus. Jaime Nunes was left behind with some bad memories. “I don’t even got a medal to remember the event and in the middle of all this I even lost a large and good coat I had given them that night”, complained Jaime Nunes in 1993 when a local newspaper published the story.
Five years after, this article would have a very important role in the homage that was given to Jaime Nunes. After five years of research and thanks to the use of the Internet it was possible to locate Lyle Van Hook in the USA. The article was translated and sent to him. The Navy Veteran did not liked what he read and in February 1999, wrote a letter to the American Ambassador in Portugal, Gerald McGowan, where he spoke about the case:
“I call your attention to this situation because of the need for our country to correct an obvious wrong done to those men to whom we owe our lives. I would hope that when the Journalist publishes his next story that he will be able to account for the appreciation that our country has shown for the heroic efforts that was demonstrated by those fishermen toward the American Naval Air Crew”.

Carlos Guerreiro




This was published in 1999. In 2001I received a letter from Mr. Aram Parunak. He was the executive officer from VB112 at the time of the accident. He knew nothing about the homage or Lyle. Somoen had given him a small request I had made in 1993 in the net searching for the crew. I sent him the above article, and he, feeling responsable for his men offered a new jacket to Jaime Nunes....


Carlos

[James A Pratt III]

Alan C Carey has a number of books out dealing with USN PBY4 squadrons during WW II. He or one of his books might be able to help you.