Crash of a Douglas DC-3-194 into the Bay of Biscay: 17 killed
Date & Time:
Jun 1, 1943 at 1254 LT
Operator:
Registration:
G-AGBB
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Lisbon – Bristol
MSN:
1590
YOM:
1936
Flight number:
2L777
Crew on board:
4
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
13
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
17
Circumstances:
The aircraft left Lisbon-Portela de Sacavém at 0730LT on a regular schedule flight to Bristol-Whitchurch Airport. While cruising over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft was intercepted and shot down by eight German Junkers JU.88 fighters. The civil aircraft went out of control and crashed into the sea some 350 km north of La Coruna. All 17 occupants, among them the British actor Leslie Howard, were killed.
Crew:
Cpt Quirinus Tepas Obe, pilot,
Cpt Dirk de Koning, pilot,
Cornelis van Brugge, radio operator,
Engbertus Rosevink, flight engineer.
Passengers:
Leslie Howard,
Alfred T. Chenhalls,
Kenneth Stonehouse,
Evelyn Peggy Margetts Stonehouse,
Rotha Hutcheon
Petra Hutcheon,
Carolina Hutcheon,
Cecelia Emilia Falla Paton,
Tyrrell Mildmay Shervington,
Ivan James Sharp,
Wilfrid Israel,
Francis German Cowlrick,
Gordon Thompson MacLean.
Crew:
Cpt Quirinus Tepas Obe, pilot,
Cpt Dirk de Koning, pilot,
Cornelis van Brugge, radio operator,
Engbertus Rosevink, flight engineer.
Passengers:
Leslie Howard,
Alfred T. Chenhalls,
Kenneth Stonehouse,
Evelyn Peggy Margetts Stonehouse,
Rotha Hutcheon
Petra Hutcheon,
Carolina Hutcheon,
Cecelia Emilia Falla Paton,
Tyrrell Mildmay Shervington,
Ivan James Sharp,
Wilfrid Israel,
Francis German Cowlrick,
Gordon Thompson MacLean.
Probable cause:
Shot down by German fighters. Theories abound that the aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, was attacked because the Germans believed that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was aboard. Other theories suggest the DC-3 was targeted because several passengers, including Howard, were British spies. During the Second World War, British and German civilian aircraft operated out of the same facilities at Portela and the incoming and outgoing traffic was watched by Allied and Axis spies. The Lisbon - Bristol route frequently carried agents and escaped PoWs to Britain.
