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Operation: Transit flight
Date: 06th March 1944 (Monday)
Unit: No. 269 Squadron (Coastal Command)
Type: Hudson IIIA
Serial: FK791
Code: Not known
Base: RAF Davidstowe Moor
Location: near Mira, Portugal
Pilot: Sqn.Ldr. David Duncan McPetrie 39548 RAF Age 31. Killed
Nav: WO1 Philip Arthur Gallop R/99353 RCAF Age 23. Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: WO. George Gordon McLean 401996 RAAF Age 26. Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Flt.Sgt. Potwahka R/114361 RCAF - Baled out, survived - no further details
REASON FOR LOSS:
Understood to be on a transit flight to the Azores via Gibraltar.
Information from Carlos Guerreiro (see credits) sent to Aircrew Remembered in July 2017:
"The Hudson was on the way to its new airbase in the Azores Islands. One of the engines stopped and the crew had to take measures and abandon the aircraft. McLean and Gallop baled out but fell into the sea and drowned. Potwalka also fall in the water, but was picked up by a fishing boat. Nobody saw the Squadron Leader Duncan jump and his body was not initially found."
The RAAF official accident report records that the aircraft encountered a severe electrical storm which caused the port engine to misbehave. Just before 0600 hours the engine failed altogether and aircraft went out of control.
The aircraft crashed into the sea off Mira in Portugal at around 0600 hrs. (Coordinates: 40.425170945749294 -8.73504641465842)
Burial details:
Crew buried at 17:00 hrs on the 13th March.
Sqn.Ldr. David Duncan McPetrie. Oporto British Churchyard (St. James). Plot 1. Collective grave 567. Son of James Duncan McPetrie and of Elisabeth Mary McPetrie (née Carnegie) and husband of Clotilde Hildegard McPetrie, of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Grave inscription reads: “Greatly Loved By His Wife And Children Remembering Him We Will Be Brave And Strong”.
WO1. Philip Arthur Gallop. Oporto British Churchyard (St. James). Plot 1. Collective grave 567. Son of John Henry and Sarah Gallop, husband of Claire Celia Gallop, of Plaster Rock, Victoria Co., New Brunswick, Canada. Grave inscription reads: “Sleep Beloved, Sleep And Take Thy Rest We Loved Thee Well But Jesus Loved Thee Best”.
WO. George Gordon McLean. Oporto British Churchyard (St. James). Plot 1. Collective grave 567. born 18 Sep 1918, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, Oporto (St. James)Bristish Churchyard Plot 1. Coll.grave 567. Son of Fredrick Gordon Henry and Caroline McLean, of East Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. Enlisted on the 26th April 1941. Grave inscription reads: “Not Lost But Gone Before”.
RS 01.07.2019 - Correction to DoB details for WO McLean and aircraft loss report
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Last Modified: 01 April 2021, 13:41