This blog is part of a site named landinportugal.org where you can find the stories of more than one hundred planes that during WWII landed or crashed in Portugal. Here I will announce the updates and also publish stories and information related with WWII in Portugal. All the stories will be in English and there another twin blog in Portuguese... forgive if sometimes the English is not always correct...



Thursday, September 30, 2010

A few questions to Robert M. Stitt

By Carlos Guerreiro

Robert Stitt recently published his first book, that has already been presented in this Blog. “Land in Portugal” was able to send some questions to the author that present’s the story of the Fortress on service of the Coastal Command, but also the story and their mission in the Portuguese islands of the Azores.

The Agreement to concede facilities in the Azores – Terceira Island, in the Lagens Airfield – was signed in August 1943 between the Portuguese and British Government. With this treaty Portugal conceded benefits to one of the belligerents, continuing although as a neutral country until the end of the conflict. The Fortresses were in the first groups that arrived there.

Part of what happened there in first years after the agreement can be found in this book.

Land in Portugal: Why a book about the Fortress in Coastal Command?
Robert Stitt: I had previously written the history of a USAAF Boeing B-17E Fortress that had crash-landed in Papua New Guinea in January 1943 - I visited the site in 1977. This aircraft was originally supposed to go the Britain for the campaign against the U-boats and documenting the type's history with RAF Coastal Command was a natural follow-on project.

LP: How long and where did you researched to complete the book?
RS: The Fortress with Coastal Command project took six years to complete. I visited The National Archives in the United Kingdom twice to get started. At the same time my network of 'helpers' grew and grew and I was very fortunate to make contact with many generous fellow researchers around the world, veterans who served on the Fortress and their families.


Fortress IIA FL459 - involved in the sinking of U707 in 9 November 1943. This is one of the 14 colour profiles by Juanita Franzi that you can find in the book

LP: What was the impression of the crew’s about the plane?
RS: They all seemed to love and trust the Fortress. It was stable, reliable and comfortable (well, relatively) and I got the impression that, although the Liberator had greater range and load carrying capability, crews preferred the Fortress.

LP: From your point of view how important were the Azores in the final period of the war?
RS: They were very important for two reasons. Firstly, Allied shipping losses across the central Atlantic were unsustainable until the Azores base became operational. And Lagens quickly became a vital staging point for aircraft being delivered to the United Kingdom, Middle East, and Far East.





One page from the book where you can see two pictures taken in the Lagens Airfield. In the first you can see how the modern and the old lived together. On the other you can see the base from above and understand the poor conditions in which the men lived.










LP: How did the crews looked to the Azores and to the Portuguese people?
RS: I believe they were very proud of the role they played in the war and got on well with the Portuguese people, except perhaps when they were being shot at by over-zealous Portuguese anti-aircraft gunners who had recently been equipped with British guns as part of the deal to use the islands! I know too that one Fortress captain married the governor's daughter!

LP: What were the biggest difficulties they found in the island?
RS: There was only tented accommodation when the airmen arrived so they virtually lived outside for several months. Water was often in very short supply and there was a population very large rats. The steel plank runway was covered with red volcanic soil and conditions were both extremely dusty at times and very noisy when aircraft landed and took off, day and night. The dust also contributed to a deadly outbreak of polio. Strong winds were often not in alignment with the single runway and visibility could be very bad, forcing pilots to chose between a blind approach between two ridges or diverting to Santa Ana (in S. Miguel Island) with its soft runway and often similarly bad weather. On the positive side, there were plenty of fruit, vegetables, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, a town to visit with no blackout, and no enemy aircraft.

LP: Can you describe the situation that most impressed you while you were researching for the book?
RS: The help received from other researchers and the trust of the families of veterans who lent me their precious documents, photographs and mementos.

LP: What would you like to say to your reader?
RS: The young men of RAF Coastal Command who flew Fortresses and other aircraft - crew members were often under 21 - did extraordinary things to ensure the survival of Britain and its Allies. They need to be remembered and I hope my book goes some way to helping this happen.


To know more about this book please click here

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The B-17 in the Azores

A new book was released this summer about the B-17 in service of the RAF Coastal Command, named “Boeing B-17 Fortress in RAF Coastal Command Service”.

The British baptized the aircraft “Fortress” and it initially equipped Coastal Command, because the earlier Fortress I (B-17C) had performed poorly during operations with 90 Squadron, later models were not available in sufficient numbers, and the type was unsuitable for the night time bombing role.


The Bomber Command used as heavy bombers the Lancaster, the Halifax and the Stirling. The Fortress and the Liberator (B-24), both of American construction, were used by this Command for secondary missions (electronic counter-measures, patrol, transport and others).

Initial deliveries, sent by the Americans, would be allocated to the Coastal Command. A bonus that this command cherished, as most their aircraft – especially in the first part of the conflict – were the leftovers from the other commands of the RAF (Fighter and Bomber).

It is not for any reason the Coastal Command become known as the “Cinderella Service”.

This book has the particularity of following the activities from the B-17 in the Coastal Command and to dedicate one fifth of its pages (43 in 248) to their presence at the Lagens base, in the Azores.

All the aircraft involved are listed, the work of their crews described, including some epic encounters with enemy submarines. It is fully illustrated with many wartime photos, and scale plans of the airframe modifications. There are also full colour profiles of representative aircraft.

Here is the index of the book related with the Azores.

The Azores......................79
Obvious Choice..................82
Operation Alacrity .............85
Building a Base.................88
Day-and-Night Team..............89
Life at Lagens………...............94
Typical Mission.................95
Precious Petrol……..............102
Attacking a U-boat ............105
Desired Effect…................107
Transit Point….................108
The Americans Arrive...........111
Action and Departure...........112
Maintaining the Guard..........116
Engine Failures…...............118
Withdrawal……...................119

To purchase the book you can link here:
http://www.mmpbooks.biz/mmp/books.php?book_id=123

Best regards
Carlos Guerreiro

(This post has suffered changes related to historical aspects,in 28 September 2010, after the contact from the author of the book wish I thank)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

WWII in Portugal is on-line

From now on the site about the men and aircraft that landed or crashed in Portugal is on-line.
Be welcomed to visit


www.landinportugal.org

This blog will, from now on, bring the news about the updates and other material related with WWII in Portugal. The language used will be English. There a portuguese version of it in


www.aterrememportugal.blogspot.com

Compliments
Carlos Guerreiro