Date
Location
Force
Aircraft
From-To
Crew
11-04-1943
Aeroporto da Portela - Lisboa / Portela Airport - Lisbon
RAF OADU
Lockheed Hudson VI FK714
Portreath (GB) → Gibraltar → North Africa
Sgt Joseph R. P. Hogan Canada
Sgt Sidney Taurima NZ
P/O Alwin E. B. Vye Canada
P/O Leslie H. Bennetts Canada
A defect in the fuel system was detected approximately 100 miles from Lisbon and the crew had to land in the city's Airport at 10.50 hours.
There they were questioned by a Portuguese officer and, on the beginning of the evening, escorted by the Assistant Air Attache from the British Embassy to a hotel in Lisbon.
On the next day they were delivered to the International Police (PVDE) that transported them to Elvas for internment.
Taurima developed a pleurisy in Elvas and was assisted first by a Portuguese doctor, and latter transferred to the British Hospital in Lisbon. He returned to the UK on May 27, 1943.
The other crew members stayed in Elvas and returned to England on June 23, 1943.
The aircraft was transferred to the Portuguese Aeronáutica Militar with the number plate H3. Latter it assumed the civilian plate CS-EHC, before being transferred to the Portuguese civil transport company TAP with the plate CS-TLA.
Resources:
* “Aviões da Cruz de Cristo” – Mário Canongia Lopes
* Arquivo ANA -Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea de Portugal - Lisboa
* Evade & Escape Report - National Archives - London, Kew
