Al Kibrit AFB | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

The crew was performing a local training flight at Al Kibrit AFB, about 30 km north of Suez. On final approach completed with one engine operative only, the crew decided to make a go around when the aircraft stalled and crashed with its undercarriage retracted few hundred yards from the runway threshold. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and all three crew members were injured.

Crash of a Vickers 416 Wellington IC near Fort Capuzzo

Date & Time: Nov 8, 1942

Type of aircraft:

Vickers 416 Wellington IC

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Registration:

DV504

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Al Kibrit - Al Kibrit

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Circumstances:

The airplane departed RAF Kibrit on an operation to Tobruk. Approaching the target area, it was shot down by the German Flak. The crew abandoned the airplane that crashed near Fort Capuzzo and was destroyed. All six crew members parachuted to safety, four became PoW and two evaded. They walked more than 550 km through the desert to reach allied lines in Egypt before being picked up by a British patrol between Lake El Maghra and El Alamein.
Crew:
F/Sgt Robert Leslie Spence, pilot,
Sgt K. R. Bowhill, copilot,
Sgt Cameron Clare Hill, navigator,
Sgt Johnny K. Wood, navigator,
Sgt E. A. Linforth, air gunner,
Sgt Arthur William Butterris, air gunner.

Probable cause:

Shot down by the German Flak.