Liberator Shot Down by U Boats & Force Landed 30.7.43 Portugal

[Mr Schmitt]

Hi,

I have a friend who's Late Father was a Navigator in a Liberator which was shot down by U-boats over the Bay of Biscay on the 30 July 1943. They forced landed in Portugal. All my friend remembers that as a small boy he was told that the crew escaped dressed as nuns. I have offered to try and find out if anyone knows anything further on this incident. His Logbook states Liberator "O" BZ 730, or might be 780 or could read 750. It is a difficult to make out the aircraft number. It also states that the following;


"Ops" A/S Patrol, Bay of Biscay. Sighted 3 U-Boats, ATTACKED & WAS HIT BADLY. FORCED LANDED IN PORTUGAL.


Any help of information or advice would be very much appreciated.



Many Thanks in Advance.

[Chris Goss]

This was from 53 Sqn which was one of a number of aircraft attacking U-461, U-462 and U-504 NW of Cap Ortgeal. This ac went in low and took fire from all 3 U-boats after which is made for Portugal. All 3 U-boats were sunk. PM me if you want to know more

[RSwank]

The plane was Liberator BZ730, Code letter O. The event happened on July 30, 1943. There is an excerpt from a book which describes "most" of the incident here, starting on page 170.

https://books.google.com/books?id=qG...0BZ730&f=false

The Liberator crew was interned for a short time in Portugal.


The German view: https://uboat.net/boats/u461.htm

https://uboat.net/boats/u462.htm https://uboat.net/boats/u504.htm

[Mr Schmitt]

Thats Great Guys,

Many thanks. I will pass this on. Can I ask is there a way in which I can get info of this from the squadron records book? Not sure how best to approach this.


Also would there be any way of finding out about them escaping dressed as nuns and the story about this?


Again Thank you very much.

[Bruce Dennis]

Three files at TNA Kew, all downloadable. There is also a 'preview' feature that may be good enough for your needs.

AIR 27/505/13,
AIR 27/505/26
AIR 27/505/27


Go to ...

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
... and put those file numbers into the SEARCH field, reach for your wallet and follow the instructions. Unless somebody has them?


Bruce

[Chris Goss]

I know that you have PM'd me but think by now you have all you need. If not, do get back in touch

[RSwank]

The crew did file reports with MI9 as is shown on this link, search for Irvine on the page:

http://www.conscript-heroes.com/MI9-03.html

The crew is listed in order following William J Irvine, who was the pilot. Note: The "existence" of a report does not mean that they escaped or evaded, only that they were interviewed.

These reports are not on-line, but are in the National Archives at Kew, WO 208 (3298 to 3327) and could be ordered.

Here is the search result for William J Irvine.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ls/r/C14083606

Note it says he was released by Portugal.

[Nick Beale]

You might get something useful from the (translated) War Diary of the Kiriegsmarine Operational Staff: https://archive.org/details/wardiarygermann471943germ or the U-boat Command diary: http://www.uboatarchive.net/BDU/BDUKTB30328.htm (also translated).

[Mr Schmitt]

Just Amazing!
Thank you very much guys. I have spoken to my friend and he is really pleased and says thank you too.

I have downloaded the ORBs and requested the MI9 interview.



Another interesting incident happened to this crew on 9.4.44
From Logbook,
"Ops" A/S PATROL. BAY AREA. SURFACED U-BOATED SIGHTED, ATTACKED. DC'S HUNG UP. DAMAGED.
HYDRAULICS HOT AWAY. CRASH LANDED - NO BRAKES.

From the ORB it states they attacked 3 times in the face of flak and depth charges could not be released.


I guess they must have crash landed with the depth charges on board!


Sincere Regards

[Rainer]

All details about this action can be found in chapter 9 "Destruction of a whole group" in the book "Conflict over the Bay" written by Norman Franks.

He also lists the crew of Liberator BZ730 (53 Sqn RAF/O):
Pilot F/O William John Irving
2nd pilot F/O Robert E. Dobson
Navigator F/O J. Haste
WOP/AG P/O R.G. Sharpe
WOP/AG Sgt A.J. Pudifin
W/AG Sgt J.G. Humphreys
WOP/AG Sgt J. Wildon

The Liberator tried to reach Gibraltar by following the coast of Portugal, but running out of fuel was forced to land at Portela, the airport of Lisbon. The crew was allowed to leave on 9 August 1943.

I wonder what became of Liberator BZ730. British online sources mention the aircraft was returned to the USAAF after its internment in Portugal and US online sources say it was returned to the RAF.

Of interest may also be the interrogation reports of survivors from the U-boats sunk in this action. That of U-461 can be found here: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-461INT.htm and that of U-462 is available here: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-462INT.htm

The report of proceedings from the 2nd Support Group that subsequently sank U-504, the third U-boat of this group, can be found here: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-504.htm


The attack carried out by Irving during the night of 9./10. April 1944 was on U-821: https://uboat.net/boats/u821.htm