Gibraltar

The airplane departed Casablanca on a flight to RAF Talbenny with an intermediate stop at RAF Gibraltar-North Front. While descending to the destination airport, the engine n°4 caught fire. The fire was intense, causing the engine to detach and to fall into the sea. Shortly later, the engine n°3 failed. On final approach, control was lost and the airplane crashed on a hill located near the airbase. A crew member and 10 passengers were killed while 8 other occupants were injured. The airplane was destroyed.
Crew:
F/O Kenneth Charles Robert Maskell, copilot +3
Passengers:
Br Vivian Dykes,
Br Guy Milton Stewart.

En route from RAF Portreath to Gibraltar-North Front Airport, while overflying the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft crashed into the sea off the Spanish coast. No trace of the airplane nor the crew was found. Lost without trace.
Crew (271st Squadron):
S/L Godfrey Allison Brown, pilot,
F/Lt Edward Thomson Halley,
P/O Peter Marsh Burton,
F/O Edwin Buckley Bowen,
F/Sgt Richard George Brett,
F/Sgt John Brister,
LAC Philip Cashmore.
Passengers:
Lt Andrew Jervis Hawkins,
Maj Harold John Palmer,
F/O William Milton Henderson,
F/O John Glen McCauley.

The airplane departed Cairo on a transit flight to UK with intermediate stops in Luqa and Gibraltar. Following a night takeoff from Luqa Airfield, while climbing, the crew encountered engine problems. The pilot elected to return for an emergency landing when the airplane went out of control and crashed in a huge explosion in Żejtun, some 5 km east of the airbase. The airplane was destroyed and all 17 occupants were killed.
Crew:
S/L Jefferson Heywood Wedgwood, pilot,
F/O Krzysztof L. Dobromirski, pilot,
Sgt Alexander Clubb Watt, flight engineer,
F/Lt Peter Earlem, observer,
F/Lt Leonard Arthur Vaughan, air gunner.
Passengers:
Cpl Douglas Sidney Hounslow,
Ac1 Stanley Edward Kelly,
Sgt Dennis Spibey,
Maj Allen Algernon Bathurst,
Lac Cyril Dennis Browne,
Lac Richard Clegg,
F/O Zbigniew A. Idzikowski,
F/Sgt Alfred E. Kleniewski,
Maj Arthur David Curtis Millar,
F/O Stanisław Pankiewicz,
Sgt Roman Wysocki,
F/O Oskar F. Zielinski.

Approaching Cadiz, the airplane suffered an engine fire. The pilot reduced his altitude and made an emergency landing. The airplane was damaged beyond repair and all 11 crew members were rescued.
Crew:
F/Sgt J. L. O'Sullivan,
F/Sgt B. Clifton,
Sgt W. N. Judd,
Sgt W. M. Davey,
Sgt V. E. Whitehall,
Sgt G. A. McGregor,
Sgt C. H. Pearson,
Sgt A. Webber,
Cpl K. Burton,
Cpl A. Agar,
Ac1 R. Walker.

Shortly after takeoff from Gibraltar-North Front Airport, while climbing to a height of about 100 feet, the airplane suffered an engine failure, lost height and crashed into the sea. Two crew members were killed and three others were rescued.
Crew:
Sgt S. F. Gardner, pilot,
Sgt C. A. Butt,
Sgt Kenneth George Gleave,
Sgt Peter Claude Shipman, †
Sgt Ronald Charles Simmons. †

Shortly after takeoff from Gibraltar-North Front Airport, while climbing at night, the airplane went out of control and crashed into the sea. All six crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Francis Bartkiewicz,
W/O Joseph Julius De Marco,
F/Sgt Denison Charles Henderson,
F/Sgt Grant Lawrence Henning,
F/Lt Gordon Webster Thorougood,
F/Sgt Leo Clifford Webster.

The crew was performing a transit flight from Gibraltar to RAF Tempsford. Persistent engine problems forced the crew to turn back from a position off Cape Finistère and at 0915LT, the airplane force landed near Armação de Pêra, 40 km northwest of Faro. All four crew members were interned until 17 January 1943. The airplane was damaged beyond repair.

The crew departed RAF Portreath on a transit flight to the Middle East with an intermediate stop in Gibraltar. While cruising over Portugal, one of the engine failed. The crew made an emergency landing near Aldeia Nova. The airplane was damaged beyond repair and all three crew members were rescued. They were interned then quickly released.
Crew:
P/O Charles Peter Cranford De Wesselow, pilot,
F/Sgt Ivor James Self, observer,
Sgt Wilfred David Burnham Bunting, wireless operator and air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Predannack on a flight to Algiers-Maison Blanche Airport with an intermediate stop in Gibraltar. On board were 11 crew members, among them Brigadier General Asa North Duncan (Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Eighth Air Force) who was flying to North Africa to witness Operation Torch. The aircraft was flying in loose formation at about 400 feet when it was seen with one engine on the right wing on fire. The formation had been flying about one hour after departure from Predannack and was about 145 km west of Brest, France. A propeller was feathered and the whole wing appeared to be on fire. Moments later it crashed in the Celtic Sea enveloped in a sheet of flames and sank immediately. One man was seen in a dinghy and five or six other in the water with Mae Wests. The men were over flown in the next hour by another B-17 and later by other aircraft but no one was rescued. Two bodies were later recovered and the rest of the crew and passenger were never located.
Crew:
Br Gen Asa North Duncan,
Maj John M. Knox,
1st Lt Leslie S. Birleson,
1st Lt Clark M. Garber Jr.,
1st Lt Joshua Kaplan,
1st Lt John C. Roysden,
T/Sgt Paul W. Padgett,
S/Sgt Roger J. Arendt,
S/Sgt Arthur B. Spell,
Sgt Lilburn L. Haddox,
Sgt Welcome L. Talbot.

The seaplane was returning to RAF Mount Batten from Gibraltar, carrying 10 crew members and five passengers. It approached the flare path near RAF Mount Batten but overshot in the heavy fog and had to climb and circle to starboard before attempting another approach. The airplane continued to starboard and as it made a second approach in almost zero visibility suddenly crashed into the sea approximately 3 km from the breakwater lighthouse. The aircraft hit the water with the starboard wing down, turn on its back and broke in two. All five passengers were killed and the 10 crew members were rescued 90 minutes later.
Crew:
F/Lt Wynton P. Thorpe, pilot,
P/O R. P. Gray, pilot,
F/O F. J. Lees, pilot,
P/O William S. Moore, navigator,
Cpl D. E. Bennington, fitter,
Cpl D. L. Graham, rigger,
Sgt R. B. Wilkinson, wireless operator,
Sgt S. J. Smith, wireless operator,
LAC P. Stanton, armourer,
Sgt D. G. Keating, air gunner.
Passengers :
Brig W. Vogel,
Cpt G. W. Wadham,
Cpt Frederic Thornton Peters,
Cdr R. R. Devlin,
Sgt Ryall Edward Cordrey, air gunner.