15/08/2022
Curiosidade...
On February 14, 1941 a Short Sunderland Mk1 (P9623) from RAF 95 Sqn flying from Pembroke Dock (UK) to Freetown (Sierra Leone) was forced to seek refuge in the Sado river estuary, Portugal. The fight against a storm exhausted the aircraft's fuel and the pilot was forced to ditch. The crew was repatriated in 23 March 1941. This was the first time that British airmen left Portugal, and it was made under the supervision of a Portuguese Air Officer. Major António Dias Leite, asked by the British Embassy and under the supervision of "higher authorities", organized the "escape" by sea through Aveiro.
The airplane was given to Portugal in May 1942 and it became AN 136 of the “Aviação Naval”, the air branch of the Portuguese Navy. On March 8, 1944, after repairs, it took off on a night mission to Portuguese Guinea but 3 hours later one propeller was lost damaging the external engine prop of the same wing which caused that engine to overheat. The accident happened near the Canaries islands but the pilot - Capitão-de-Mar-e-Guerra Paulo Viana – was able to bring the aircraft back to Lisbon with only the two left wing engines. This photo shows the aircraft after its return to Lisbon. It never flew again and was scrapped the next year. Striped of its RAF’s (most probably) Sea Temperate Camo scheme, it shows here in bare metal with Portuguese markings.
In the back, covered with some sort of net or canvas, we can see Catalina Mk.Ib (FP286) from RAF 210 Sqn. On March 31, 1943, this aircraft, based at Gibraltar, was on patrol along the Portuguese coast when it started to lose fuel and was forced to ditch ending up stranded on Santa Rita beach, north of Torres Vedras, central Portugal. It was equipped with radar and apparently its loss and location was hushed which didn’t prevent several Portuguese civilians from taking incriminating photos of the beached aircraft. Unfortunately, due to the lack of spare parts and proper maintenance it was left to rot at the Naval Center in Lisbon finally being scrapped some years later.
On both accounts all crew members returned safely to Great Britain.
Text main sources:
Portugal1939-1945.org
AVIAÇÃO NAVAL PORTUGUESA/PORTUGUESE NAVY AVIATION
