The Crash of the Lockheed Hudson (42-6625) Mk. VI - EW916, ZS-H. 48 Sqn RAF

[TabsTabs1964]

The Crash of the Lockheed Hudson (42-6625) Mk. VI - EW916, ZS-H. 48 Sqn RAF

On February 22, 1944, a group of 13 aircraft belonging to the 48 Sqn. of the RAF took off from their base in Gibraltar, bound for the base of Birchan Newton (Norfolk).





The Gibraltar-United Kingdom route flew over Portuguese territory, except for the final section that did so over the region located in the Northwest corner of Spain, Galicia.

During that flight two Hudsons were lost, the first was the EW906 that crashed in Loriga in the "Sierra da Estrela" (Portugal) and, around four in the morning, the Hudson EW916 in the "Peña Monteagudo" in "Calvos de Randín" (Province of Orense, Spain).



I have indicated with the red dot of google maps the place of the accident

[TabsTabs1964]

This mountain is on one side Portuguese territory and its other slope is Spanish territory. It is almost certain that the plane hit the Portuguese side and the force of the crash threw the remains of the aircraft and its crew into Spanish territory.


A view of the mountain peak where the plane crashed. The image is taken from the Spanish side, in the town called "Calvos de Randín"

It was a terrible winter night; the temperature was many degrees below zero and snow-covered fields and roads.





Two current winter views of this small town that every year beats the cold record of the entire region of Galicia (Spain)

The young people of the town were gathered at a party in the barn of a house, when a loud explosion startled them and they went out into the street at the top of the peak there were flames and from time to time other explosions.

[TabsTabs1964]

With the daylight, men and mules climbed to the top of the mountain and found scattered the remains of the accident and the corpses (already frozen by the intense cold) of the crew members. Five crew members remained in their seats and the sixth (a very blond man, an old man recalls, then a child) had been thrown out by the crash.

With the arrival of the Spanish military authorities, the descent of the deceased was organized, and they were buried in the church cemetery of the small town of Calvos de Randín.

They remained there for a decade until the British Consulate organized their exhumation and transfer to the British War Cemetery in Lujua (Bilbao).


Image of the English cemetery of Lujua (Bilbao)

These were the British and Canadians who were on the plane and found their deaths in this remote place on the border of Spain and Portugal one freezing morning in 1944:

F.O. Pilot. Alfred Ian Gregg – J/20223 – RCAF
Sgt. Navigator. George Benjamin Partt – 1336376 – RAF
W.O. Radio. James Douglas Morgan – R/125904 – RCAF
P.O. Gunner. Alexander Stalker – J/87407 – RCAF
Sgt. Passenger. John William Simpson – 1071210 – RAF
F.S. Passenger. Ivor John Williams – 560442 – RAF





The headstones of the six crew members who died in the accident

[TabsTabs1964]

The winter of 1944 was one of the most terrible in remembrance; Furthermore, "Calvos de Randín" is the coldest point in Galicia.

In Spain those years are called "the years of famine" and the border between Spain and Portugal in that area of Galicia, was a deeply poor agricultural area where everything was scarce and of course construction materials; since although in Galicia the houses are built with granite stone blocks and the roofs are made with clay tiles or slabs of slate, the metal sheet was something simply unknown.

So when spring came the inhabitants of the place returned to the wreckage of the accident and cut the sheets of the fuselage of the plane and lowered them to the village, to line the wooden stalls and windows of their houses and stables and barns.

These are some images of the "recycling" of the metal panels of the crashed plane.

[TabsTabs1964]

76 years later they are still there.

The truth is that the crash site of the plane in this story is just thirty miles from where I live. On August 23, a group of couples and the children went on an excursion to spend the day on that part of the border between Spain and Portugal.



With a good friend cop, who jokingly called my bodyguard

[TabsTabs1964]

So close to home and I didn't know it.

A wonderful lake where you can swim and have a picnic.




Wifey & me



An excellently preserved Roman camp "Aquis Querquennis" on the lake shore







An incredible forest, in which it seems to be able to hear the Roman legions passing .....







An old abandoned border crossing......





And of course, a bit of WWII History

Regards
Santi

[BlackCat1982]

Thanks for taking the time to tell the story of the air men's loss, how beautiful it looks now and what a different place it was 76 years ago.

[Gunny Hartmann]

Hi Santi, thank you for bringing this unknown (to me) incident to our attention. It's very good of you to remember the crew men and their story, also very interesting that the wreckage of the Hudson didn't go to waste.
Nice to put a face to a name too. Grazas.

[earlymb]

A fascinating story! The headstones look they could use a scrubbing though.

[Chopperman]

Great thread Santi. Thank you.