ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 202534
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| Date: | Saturday 4 December 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17E Fortress Mk IIA |
| Owner/operator: | 220 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | FK206 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | two miles off Lagens airport, Azores -
 Portugal
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
As German forces under Adolf Hitler made advanced against the rest of Europe in 1939, beginning World War II, many European countries were lining up for and against this act of aggression. The Portuguese government saw neutrality as its best line of defence against Germany. However in 1941, Portuguese officials recognizing the dangers of the Azores in German hands, expanded the runway and sent additional troops and equipment to Lajes including Gladiator aircraft. The Portuguese declared the base capable of air defense on 11 July 1941. The military activities in the Azores grew in 1942 as the Gladiators evolved into flying cover missions for allied convoys, reconnaissance missions and meteorological flights. Also in July 1942, the first JU52 arrived flying cargo transportation missions.
Early in the war, the Allied Powers of Britain and the United States recognized the potential of operating out of the Azores. With German U-boats reeking havoc on transatlantic shipping, Britain saw the need to conduct operations out of the Azores. As the U.S. became increasingly involved in the war, it was looking for the fastest means to get men and material to North Africa and Europe. The Azores offered that opportunity. However, the Portuguese government remained neutral.
The British negotiated for the use of the Azores with a 600-year-old treaty (1373 Treaty of Peace). Under an agreement signed on 17 August 1943, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, president of the Portuguese Council of Ministers, agreed to the British request for basing rights "in the name of the alliance that had existed for over 600 years between Portugal and Great Britain." The British were given use of the Azorean ports of Horta, on the island of Faial, and Ponta Delgada, on the island of Sao Miguel, and the airfields of Lagens Field on Terceira Island and Santana Field on Sao Miguel Island.
The name Lagens Field was the original British designation for Lajes Field. The U.S. used that name until 1950 when it became Lages Field. It was not until 1953 when the name Lajes Field became the official designation. For simplicity, Lajes Field will be the name used throughout this history.
On 8 October 1943, the British disembarked at Angra, unloaded equipment and supplies, and trucked them over a narrow, rough road a distance of 11 miles to what would become known as Lajes Field. The British built hangars, developed a large power plant, and set up living quarters. Their main task was preparing a surface that allowed heavy aircraft to land.
The British brought 60,000 U.S.-supplied Marston mats (standardized, perforated steal plates 10 feet long and 15 inches wide, pierced by 87 holes per plate) to Lajes. When these mats were linked together, an all-weather, heavy-aircraft surface 150 feet wide and 5,000 feet long was created. Just two weeks after their arrival, British bombers (Hudsons, Lancasters, Flying Fortresses, Yorks, and Wellingtons) began to operate against German U-boats around a 500-mile radius of the Azores. This central part of that ocean known as the "Black Pit" or the Azores Gap had been out of range of British and U.S. land-based air cover. The Azores permitted British aircraft to extend the scope of their vigilance in the protection of Allied shipping in the Atlantic.
The first U-boat "kill" came when a Fortress of 220 Sqn, 247 Group, Coastal Command, RAF attacked an exposed submarine on 9 November 1943 just one month after British Forces arrived at Lajes Field. The contributions of the Azores and the three British anti-submarine squadrons at Lajes were one of the turning points in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943.
220 Sqn arrived at Lagens in October 1943, but when the time came for a major service of their Fortresses, every 800 flight hours, they had to be ferried to Thornaby, England.
The Fortress IIA FK206 (former US serial 41-9202) took off off the planked runway at Lagens at 0326 hrs in the early morning of 4 December 1943 for such a ferry flight. It took off normally but thirty seconds later it turned to starboard two miles from the end of the runway and either dived or stalled into the sea with the loss of all onboard. The cause of the crash is not known. The official likely cause was loss of control following the change from visual flight to instruments on a very black night.
Crew (all killed):
Flg Off Desmond Edward Morris RAF (1st pilot)
Flt Sgt Robert Noel Morrison RAF (2nd pilot)
Plt Off James Geoffrey Johnson RAAF (observer)
Plt Off Arthur Pearce RAAF (wireless operator/air gunner)
Plt Off Harold Lawson RAF (wireless operator/air gunner)
Wt Off II Carl Thomas Flack RCAF (wireless operator/air gunner)
Flt Sgt MICHAEL Patrick Campion RAF (air gunner, George Cross)
Wt Off II Joseph Edouard Roch Boudreault RCAF (air gunner)
Johnson, Flack and BOUDREAULT are buried in the Lagens War Cemetery Azores. The remaining missing members of the crew have no known grave and their names are commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede, UK.
Sources:
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/19084-azores.html
https://www.awm.gov.au//catalogue/research_centre/pdf/rc09125z019_1.pdf
http://www.raafdb.com/view_aircraft.asp?ac=FK206
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/all-anniversaries/22664-memoriam-those-air-force-pilots-crews-who-died-day-ww2-40.html
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1941_2.html
http://www.lajes.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3999
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._220_Squadron_RAF
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Lagens
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Dec-2017 09:37 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 21-Mar-2021 14:41 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 29-Jan-2022 07:27 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 29-Jan-2022 07:27 | Robstitt | Updated [[Narrative]] |
| 29-Jan-2022 17:31 | Robstitt | Updated [Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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