BOAC Flight 777
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 1 June 1943 |
Summary | Attacked by eight German Lisbon Portela Airport, Portugal |
Destination | Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport, United Kingdom |
Passengers | 13 |
Crew | 4 |
Fatalities | 17 |
Survivors | 0 |
BOAC Flight 777A was a
One theory suggests that the Germans attacked the aircraft because they believed that British Prime Minister
Aircraft flying the Lisbon–Whitchurch route were left unmolested at the beginning of the war, and both Allied and Axis powers respected the neutrality of Portugal. However, in 1942 the air war had begun to heat up over the Bay of Biscay, north of Spain and off the west coast of France; the Douglas DC-3 lost in this attack had survived attacks by Luftwaffe fighters in November 1942 and April 1943.
Historical background
BOAC flights
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Bay_of_Biscay_map.svg/220px-Bay_of_Biscay_map.svg.png)
When war broke out in Europe, the British
KLM aircraft and flight crews escape to England
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/G-AGBD%28PH-ARB_Buizerd%29.jpeg/220px-G-AGBD%28PH-ARB_Buizerd%29.jpeg)
For several weeks prior to the
Initially, a British copilot (carrying a concealed firearm) was included in the crew. After the initial reservations about using Dutch crews were overcome, all-Dutch crews were used, although the flights used BOAC flight numbers and passenger handling. The KLM contingent was housed at BOAC's Whitchurch base.
Operations
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Hengrove_Park.jpg/220px-Hengrove_Park.jpg)
The UK–Lisbon service operated up to four times per week. From 20 September 1940, passengers were flown from Whitchurch (although Heston continued as the London terminus for KLM from 26 June till 20 September 1940), and for Lisbon, the pre-war grass airfield at Sintra was used until October 1942, when the new runway was ready at
Originally, five Douglas DC-3s and one
British and German civilian aircraft operated from the same facilities at Portela and
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Douglas_DC-3_of_BOAC_at_Gibraltar%2C_silhouetted_by_searchlights_on_the_Rock.jpg/220px-Douglas_DC-3_of_BOAC_at_Gibraltar%2C_silhouetted_by_searchlights_on_the_Rock.jpg)
Previous attacks on the same aircraft
The aircraft flying the Lisbon–Whitchurch route were left unmolested after the beginning of the war. Both Allied and Axis powers respected the
In 1941 the Germans created
On 15 November 1942 G-AGBB Ibis was attacked by a single Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter, but was able to limp on to Lisbon where repairs were carried out; damage sustained included the port wing, engine nacelle, and fuselage.[3][N 3].
On 19 April 1943, the aircraft was attacked at 46N 9W by six Bf 110 fighters. Captain Koene Dirk Parmentier evaded the attackers by dropping to 50 ft (15 m) above the ocean and then climbing steeply into the clouds.[6] The Ibis again sustained damage to the port aileron, shrapnel to the fuselage, and a punctured fuel tank. A new wingtip was flown to Lisbon to complete repairs.[3] Despite these attacks, KLM and BOAC continued to fly the Lisbon–Whitchurch route.[7]
Although there were three other aircraft – two KLM DC-3s and one KLM DC-2 – in use by BOAC on the same route, G-AGBB Ibis was the only one attacked three times.
Flight details
Aircraft and crew
The
There were four Dutch crew on the flight. First in command: Captain Quirinus Tepas OBE, second in command: Captain Dirk de Koning (also aboard the second attack on the Ibis), wireless operator: Cornelis van Brugge (also known from the 1934 London-Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race), flight engineer: Engbertus Rosevink.[9] Most crew members diverted to England in their aircraft after the German invasion of the Netherlands, and some of them settled in the Bristol area.[10]
Passenger list
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/BOAC777passengerlist.jpg/220px-BOAC777passengerlist.jpg)
The passenger list included stage and film actor
Flight 777 was full and several would-be passengers were turned away, including British Squadron Leader Wally Lashbrook.
After the war, actor Raymond Burr said that he had been married to Scottish actress Annette Sutherland when she was killed on Flight 777. He said he travelled to Spain and Portugal to get information on the disaster but never learned anything about it. According to Burr's biographer Ona L. Hill, "no one by the name of Annette Sutherland Burr was listed as a passenger" on Flight 777.[19]
Leslie Howard
The most intense intrigue surrounded actor Leslie Howard who was at the peak of his career and had world fame after
Tyrrell Mildmay Shervington
Shervington was director of Shell-Mex and BP Oil Company in Lisbon, but he was also agent H.100 of the Special Operations Executive's Iberian operation. José Antonio Barreiros suggests that Shervington was the actual target of the attack rather than Howard.[23]
Wilfrid Israel
Another passenger was Wilfrid Israel, a member of an important Anglo-German Jewish family and a rescuer of Jews from the Holocaust who had close connections to the British government. He was born in England to an Anglo-Jewish mother and German Jewish father, and he and his brother had run the Nathan Israel Department Store in Berlin until it was seized by the Nazis in 1938. As early as 1933, he was obtaining information about Nazi arrest lists and warning the intended victims. He worked with consular officials in the British embassy to obtain visas, and he dismissed 700 of his firm's Jewish staff with two years' pay in 1936, telling them to save themselves by leaving Germany. After Kristallnacht, he was instrumental in setting up the Kindertransport which saved more than 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria. He remained in Berlin until 1939 when he left for Britain. He returned to Berlin once more before the outbreak of war to secure the departure of a last trainload of children. On 26 March 1943, he left Britain for Portugal and spent two months investigating the situation of Jews in Spain and Portugal; he found as many as 1,500 Jewish refugees in Spain, many of whom he aided in obtaining Palestine certificates[further explanation needed], and he proposed a plan to the British government to aid them.[14]
Attack
7:35–10:54 Takeoff and flight
On 1 June 1943, the BOAC flight from Lisbon to Whitchurch was assigned to the Ibis and given flight number 777-A.
The following day, BOAC released a statement:
The British Overseas Airways Corporation regrets to announce that a civil aircraft on passage between Lisbon and the United Kingdom is overdue and presumed lost. The last message received from the aircraft stated that it was being attacked by an enemy aircraft. The aircraft carried 13 passengers and a crew of four. Next-of-kin have been informed.[25]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/G-AGBB_BOAC_PH-ALI_KLM_search_1943_by_Spanish_destroyer.jpg/220px-G-AGBB_BOAC_PH-ALI_KLM_search_1943_by_Spanish_destroyer.jpg)
Media accounts
The New York Times announced on 3 June: "A British Overseas Airways transport plane, with the actor Leslie Howard reported among its 13 passengers, was officially declared overdue and presumed lost today.… In their daily communique, broadcast from Berlin and recorded by The Associated Press, the Germans said: 'Three enemy bombers and one transport were downed by German reconnaissance planes over the Atlantic'."[9]
Time magazine carried a brief story on 14 June, including details of the final radio broadcast from the Dutch pilot. "I am being followed by strange aircraft. Putting on best speed.… we are being attacked. Cannon shells and tracers are going through the fuselage. Wave-hopping and doing my best."[26] The news of Howard's death was published in the same issue of The Times that falsely reported the death of Major William Martin, the red herring used for the ruse involved in Operation Mincemeat.[27]
German pilots' account
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Junkers_Ju_88_RAF_Hendon.jpg/220px-Junkers_Ju_88_RAF_Hendon.jpg)
Bloody Biscay: The History of V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40 by Christopher H. Goss revealed one of the most detailed versions of the attack. The book states that BOAC Flight 777 was not intentionally targeted and was shot down when it was mistaken for an Allied military aircraft. The account is composed of the author's analysis of events and interviews, conducted decades after the war ended, with some of the German pilots involved in the attack.[4]
According to this account, eight Junkers Ju 88C-6 heavy fighters (Zerstörer) from the 14th
Hintze states that all the German pilots involved expressed regret for shooting down a civilian aircraft and were "rather angry" with their superiors for not informing them that there was a scheduled flight between Lisbon and Britain. Goss writes that official German records back up Hintze's account that Staffel 14/KG 40 was carrying out normal operations and that the day's events occurred because the U-boats could not be found. He concludes that "there is nothing to prove that [the German pilots] were deliberately aiming to shoot down the unarmed DC-3."[4] This account of the German pilots and Goss's conclusions are challenged by some authorities.[6]
The research of Ben Rosevink, a retired research technician at the
The following day, a search of the Bay of Biscay was undertaken by "N/461", a Short Sunderland flying boat from the Royal Australian Air Force's 461 Squadron. Near the same coordinates where the DC-3 was downed, the Sunderland was attacked by eight V/KG40 Ju 88s and after a furious battle, managed to shoot down three of the attackers, scoring an additional three "possibles," before crash-landing at Penzance. In the aftermath of these two actions, all BOAC flights from Lisbon were subsequently re-routed and operated only under cover of darkness.[6] [N 8] [N 9]
Theories for the attack
There are several theories as to why BOAC Flight 777 was shot down by the German pilots. All of these contradict the claims by the German pilots that they were not ordered to shoot down the airliner, either because the theories were formulated before the testimonies of the German pilots were recorded in the 1990s, or because the authors disbelieve the German accounts.
Churchill assassination attempt
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Churchill_V_sign_HU_55521.jpg/170px-Churchill_V_sign_HU_55521.jpg)
The most popular theory surrounding the downing of BOAC Flight 777 is that German intelligence mistakenly believed Winston Churchill was on the flight. This theory appeared in the press within days of the incident, and Churchill himself supported it.
In late May 1943, Churchill and
According to the Churchill assassination theory, as passengers were boarding BOAC Flight 777, German agents spotted what Churchill described in his memoirs as "a thick-set man smoking a cigar," whom they mistook for the Prime Minister.[30] This man was later identified as Alfred T. Chenhalls, Howard's accountant and portly travel companion. In addition, some have speculated that the tall and thin Howard may have been mistaken for Detective Inspector Walter H. Thompson, Churchill's personal bodyguard who had a similar physical appearance.[31] There is an even more elaborate version of this theory that posits Chenhalls was employed by the British government as Churchill's "deliberate double" and that he and Howard boarded BOAC Flight 777 knowing they were going to die. An alternative version of this is that the British government had intercepted German messages via the Ultra code breaking operations, but failed to notify the BOAC Flight 777 for fear of compromising the use of Ultra decrypted messages.[6] Both Flight 777 (1957), a book by Ian Colvin about the incident, and In Search of My Father (1981), by Leslie Howard's son Ronald Howard, lend credence to the idea that BOAC Flight 777 was downed because the Germans thought Churchill was on the flight.[32]
Churchill appeared to accept this theory in his memoirs, although he is extremely critical of the poor German intelligence that led to the disaster. He wrote, "The brutality of the Germans was only matched by the stupidity of their agents. It is difficult to understand how anyone could imagine that with all the resources of Great Britain at my disposal I should have booked a passage in an unarmed and unescorted plane from Lisbon and flown home in broad daylight."[30] As it was, Churchill travelled back to Britain via Gibraltar, departing on the evening of 4 June 1943 in a converted Consolidated B-24 Liberator transport and arriving in Britain the next morning.
In the BBC television series, Churchill's Bodyguard (original broadcast 2006), it is suggested that (Abwehr) German intelligence agents were in contact with members of the merchant navy in Britain and were informed of Churchill's departure and route. German spies watching the airfields of neutral countries may have mistaken Howard and his manager, as they boarded their aircraft, for Churchill and his bodyguard. Churchill's Bodyguard noted that Thompson wrote that Winston Churchill at times seemed clairvoyant about suspected threats to his safety, and acting on a premonition, he changed his departure to the following day. The crux of the theory posited that Churchill asked one of his men to tamper with an engine on his aircraft, giving him an excuse not to travel at that time. Speculation by historians has also centred on whether the British code breakers had decrypted several top secret Enigma messages that detailed the assassination plan. Churchill wanted to protect any information uncovered by the code breakers so the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht would not suspect that their Enigma machines were compromised. Although the overwhelming majority of published documentation of the case repudiates this theory, it remains a possibility. Coincidentally, the timing of Howard's takeoff and the flight path was similar to Churchill's, making it easy for the Germans to mistake the two flights.[33]
Leslie Howard: Spy
Several books focused on Flight 777, including Flight 777 (Ian Colvin, 1957) and In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard (Ronald Howard, Leslie's son, 1984), conclude that the Germans were almost certainly out to shoot down the DC-3 to kill Howard himself.[34] Howard had been travelling through Spain and Portugal, ostensibly lecturing on film, but also meeting with local propagandists and shoring up support for the Allied cause. The Germans in all probability suspected even more surreptitious activities since German agents were active throughout Spain and Portugal, which, like Switzerland, was a crossroads for persons from both sides of the conflict, but even more accessible to Allied citizens. James Oglethorpe, a British historian specialising in the Second World War, has investigated Howard's connection to the secret services.[35] Ronald Howard's book, in particular, explores in great detail written German orders to the Ju 88 Staffel based in France, assigned to intercept the aircraft, as well as communiqués on the British side that verify intelligence reports of the time indicating a deliberate attack on Howard. These accounts also indicate that the Germans were aware of Churchill's whereabouts at the time and were not so naïve as to believe he would be travelling alone on board an unescorted and unarmed civilian aircraft, which Churchill also acknowledged as improbable. Howard and Chenhalls were not originally booked on the flight, and used their priority status to have passengers removed from the fully booked airliner. Of the 13 travellers on board, most were either British executives with corporate ties to Portugal, or comparatively lower-ranked British government civil servants. There were also two or three children of British military personnel.[34]
While ostensibly on "entertainer goodwill" tours at the behest of the British Council, Howard engaged in intelligence-gathering activities that attracted German interest. The chance to demoralise Britain with the loss of one of its most outspokenly patriotic figures may have been behind the Luftwaffe attack.[31] A 2008 book by Spanish writer José Rey Ximena[36] claims that Howard was on a top-secret mission for Churchill to dissuade Francisco Franco, Spain's authoritarian dictator and head of state, from joining the Axis powers.[37] Via an old girlfriend (Conchita Montenegro), Howard had contacts with Ricardo Giménez-Arnau, who at the time was a young and very humble diplomat in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[37] Further circumstantial background evidence is revealed in Jimmy Burns's 2009 biography of his father, spymaster Tom Burns.[38] According to author William Stevenson in A Man called Intrepid, his biography of Sir William Samuel Stephenson (no relation), the senior representative of British Intelligence for the Western hemisphere during the Second World War,[39] Stephenson postulated that the Germans knew about Howard's mission and ordered the aircraft shot down. Stephenson further claimed that Churchill knew in advance of the German intention to shoot down the aircraft, but decided to allow it to proceed to protect the fact that the British had broken the German Enigma code.[40][N 10]
Assassination of Leslie Howard, the propaganda figure
Ronald Howard was convinced the order to shoot down Howard's airliner came directly from
Howard mistaken for R. J. Mitchell
One of the less credible theories that circulated at the time was reported by Harry Pusey. Before the attack on BOAC Flight 777, the film The First of the Few about the life of R. J. Mitchell, the engineer behind the Supermarine Spitfire, was playing widely in Lisbon cinemas and had starred Howard as Mitchell. The gossip on the streets of Lisbon was that German agents had mistakenly thought Howard was Mitchell and ordered the downing of BOAC Flight-777. Pusey debunked this theory: "But you would have thought someone in German Intelligence would have known that Mitchell had died in 1937, wouldn't you?"[1]
The 2010 biography by Estel Eforgan, Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor examines currently available evidence and concludes that Howard was not a specific target,[41] corroborating the claims by German sources that the shooting down was "an error in judgement."[6]
Legacy
The downing of BOAC Flight 777 elicited headlines around the world and there was widespread public grief, especially for the loss of Leslie Howard, who was championed as a martyr. The British government condemned the downing of BOAC Flight 777 as a war crime. The public's attention shifted focus as other events occurred. Nonetheless, two authoritative works examined the circumstances of the downing of BOAC Flight 777: in 1957, journalist Ian Colvin's book on the disaster entitled Flight 777: The Mystery of Leslie Howard and in 1984, Howard's son Ronald's biography of his father.
In 2003, on the 60th anniversary of the downing of Flight 777, a pair of television documentaries on the subject were released: the
In 2009 the grandson of Ivan Sharp, who lives in Norwich, and has the same name as his grandfather, arranged for a memorial plaque for the crew and passengers of BOAC Flight 777 to be dedicated at Lisbon Airport. On 1 June 2010, a similar plaque, paid for by Sharp, was unveiled at Whitchurch Airport in Bristol, and a brief memorial was held by friends and family of those killed on the flight.[10]
A documentary film Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave A Damn (2016),[42] which includes commentary on the ill-fated flight, was narrated by Derek Partridge, who at the age of seven gave up his seat on BOAC Flight 777 for Leslie Howard and Alfred T. Chenhalls and later in life, became a television and screen actor.[17][18]
In 2023 Members of the North Bristol Amateur Radio Club(NBARC)[43] and South Bristol Amateur Radio Club(SBARC)[44] combined efforts to commemorate the loss of flight 777.
The “Special, Special Event Station” was located at the end of the last remaining section of runway at Bristol Whitchurch Airport.[45]
Thanks to Ofcom[46] the radio clubs secured a special Amateur radio callsign: GB80AGBB.[47]
This breaks down as GB (a British Amateur Radio station), 80 (The number of years being commemorated). AGBB (The tail registration of the ill-fated DC-3. IBIS ).
During the operation time (30/05/23 - 03/06/23) The station was open to members of the public to visit and for Amateur Radio operators[48] that contacted the station on air, all to learn about Flight777, those on board when the aircraft was shot down and its destination, Bristol Whitchurch airport.
On the 1st June 2023 a minute silence was held, followed by the names of the passengers and crew was read out by Mr Robert Clark of the United Reform Church Bristol. Following a short prayer. This was then followed by Rabbi Monique Mayer[49] from the progressive Jewish congregation[50] who spoke about those who died and Wilfrid Israel in particular, finishing by offering Hebrew prayer for the dead.
Events on the 1 June 2023 were recorded by the Bristol BBC television News (Points West). They also interviewed the Rabbi and the Sectary of North Bristol Amateur Radio Club. It was transmitted on the 18:30 news that night.[51] The whole flight777 special event took two years of planning and was conceived and lead the NBARC sectary,[52] and G7FBD [53] the NBARC events co-ordinator. He also wrote this wikipedia update[54] and an article about the event that was published in the August 23 edition of the Radio Society of Great Britain[55] RADCOM magazine[56] leading to even more people learning about flight 777.
See also
- Aviation accidents and incidents
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
- List of airliner shootdown incidents
Notes
- Empire flying boats by refuelling in Newfoundland.
- Shoreham. The plane was then taken to Ringwaywhere it underwent repairs and received its camouflage paint.
- ^ The crew aboard on 15 November 1942 were: Captain Theo Verhoeven, flight engineer Gerard Alsem and radio operator Leo Dik.[3]
- ^ Squadron Leader Wally Lashbrook's Handley Page Halifax bomber was shot down over Belgium in April 1943, and he managed to evade capture and escaped to Portugal.[4]
- ^ In Ronald Howard's book In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard, the nanny's name was Rowe.
- ^ According to Ronald Howard's In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard, the priest was Father A. S. Holmes, vice president of the R. C. English College. He was returning to England, but he left the aeroplane to take a last minute phone call.
- ^ Ostensibly on a long range anti-submarine patrol, the crew of "N/461" received information about the downing of BOAC Flight 777 but were not specifically searching for survivors.
- ^ V/KG40 regarded the action on 2 June 1943 as successful despite the evidence that three Ju 88s and possibly six had been downed. The Sunderland flying boat was severely damaged and gunner Sgt. Miles was killed during the exchange.
- ^ There has also been speculation that passengers Shervington, Stonehouse and Sharp, among others, were spies for the British.[6]
References
- ^ SagaMagazine, January 2003, retrieved 25 July 2010 – via scholar.google.co.uk
- ^ a b Rosevink and Hintze 1991, p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rosevink and Hintze 1991, p. 12.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Goss 2001, pp. 50–56.
- ^ "The OSS and Project SAFEHAVEN — Central Intelligence Agency". 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Matthews, Rowan. "N461: Howard & Churchill." n461.com, 2003. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b c "Douglas DC-3-194 PH-ALI 'Ibis'." web.archive.org, 2004. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ Hagens 2000, p. 177.
- ^ Hennepin County Public Library, Edina. Retrieved: 2 December 2006.
- ^ Bristol Evening Post, 31 May 2010. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ "Civil registration event: Marriage Mr Kenneth Stonehouse". Findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Stonehouse, Evelyn Peggy". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ "Casualty Details: Shervington, Tyrell Mildmay". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ ISBN 0-8143-1672-7.
- Hennepin County Public Library, Edina. Retrieved: 2 December 2006.
- Hennepin County Public Library, Edina. Retrieved: 9 December 2006.
- ^ a b "The Mystery of Flight 777: Presented by a Voice Actor Who Lived To Tell the Tale." Archived 16 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine Voices.com. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ a b Hamilton, Thomas. "Leslie Howard: A Quite Remarkable Life." Archived 16 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Repo Films via lesliehoward.squarespace.com. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ Hill 1999, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Eforgan 2010, pp. 140–169.
- ^ "Catalogue reference FO 954/27C: Description Spain: To Mr. Leslie Howard. Reply to 43/10A. Former Reference: Sp/43/13A. Folio No: Volume 27 Folio 393 (in the Eden Papers collection), Date: 20 April 1943." National Archives. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ "Catalogue reference FO 954/27C: Spain: From Mr. Leslie Howard. Proposed visit to Spain. (Former Reference: Sp/43/10A. Folio No: Volume 27 Folio 385, returned to Lord Avon Date), 12 April 1943." National Archives. Retrieved: 25 July 2010.
- ^ Traição a Salazar by José Antonio Barreiros, Oficina do Livro (June 2012), page 69.
- ^ "RAF Operation Record June 1943". Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ "British Air Liner Lost: Mr. Leslie Howard A Passenger, Attacked By Enemy." The Times, 3 June 1943, p. 4, column G.
- ^ "The Luftwaffe Intercepts." Time, 14 June 1943. Retrieved: 24 July 2010.
- ^ The Times, Thursday, 3 June 1943, p. 4.
- ^ Goss 2001, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Rosevink and Hintze 1991, p. 14.
- ^ a b c Churchill 1991, pp. 695–696.
- ^ a b Colvin 2007, p. 167.
- ^ a b Wilkes, Donald E., Jr. "The Assassination of Ashley Wilkes." The Athens Observer, 8 June 1995 p. 7A, accessed at law.uga.edu. Retrieved: 23 July 2010.
- ^ " 'Churchill‘s Bodyguard' – Complete Series."[permanent dead link] Nugus Martin Productions via 7digital.com, 2006. Retrieved: 23 July 2010.
- ^ a b c Howard 1984
- ^ "Leslie Howard." Archived 24 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine lesliehowardsociety.multiply.com. Retrieved: 22 July 2010.
- ^ Rey Ximena 2008
- ^ a b "Book: Howard kept Spain from joining WWII." United Press International, 6 October 2008. Retrieved: 25 May 2009.
- ^ Burns 2009
- ^ Stevenson 2000, p. 179.
- ^ "Intrepid Book Brings Spy's Life From Shadows." Archived 29 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine trueintrepid.com. Retrieved: 23 July 2010.
- ^ Eforgan 2010, pp. 217–245, 231–245.
- ^ "Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn". 11 February 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via IMDb.
- ^ "Home". North Bristol Amateur Radio Club. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "GB80AGBB – Commemorating Flight 777". 23 April 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "Whitchurch (Bristol), City and County of Bristol - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK". www.abct.org.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Spectrum licencing section of Ofcom: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radiocommunication-licences/amateur-radio/amateur-radio-info
- ^ The events QRZ callsign look up database: https://www.qrz.com/db/GB80AGBB
- ^ What is Amateur Radio? https://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/what-is-amateur-radio/
- ^ "Rabbi Monique Mayer". Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "Home". BWPJC. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "GB80AGBB Commemoration station BBC Bristol report". YouTube. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Dave - G7BYN
- ^ Mat Adlard
- ^ Mat Adlard - G7FBD.
- ^ "Welcome to the Radio Society of Great Britain - Portal". rsgb.org. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "Radcom Magazine". Radio Society of Great Britain. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
Bibliography
- Burns, Jimmy. Papa Spy: Love, Faith and Betrayal in Wartime Spain. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7475-9520-5.
- Churchill, Winston S. The Hinge of Fate. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1950.
- Churchill, Winston. Memoirs of the Second World War: An Abridgement of the Six Volumes of the Second World War. New York: ISBN 0-395-59968-7.
- Colvin, Ian. Admiral Canaris: Chief of Intelligence. London: Colvin Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4067-5821-4.
- Colvin, Ian. Flight 777: The Mystery Of Leslie Howard. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Aviation, Updated edition, 2013. First edition, London: Evans Brothers, 1957. ISBN 978-1-7815-9016-4.
- Eforgan, Estel. Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor. London: Vallentine Mitchell Publishers, 2010. ISBN 978-0-85303-941-9.
- Goss, Chris. Bloody Biscay: The Story of the Luftwaffe's Only Long Range Maritime Fighter Unit, V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40, and Its Adversaries 1942–1944. London: Crécy Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-947554-87-4.
- Hagens, Jan. Londen of Berlijn: De KLM en haar personeel in oorlogstijd, Deel 1, 1939–1941 (in Dutch). Bergen, The Netherlands: Bonneville, 2000. ISBN 90-73304-74-1.
- Hill, Ona L. Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography. New York: ISBN 0-7864-0833-2.
- Howard, Leslie Ruth. A Quite Remarkable Father: A Biography of Leslie Howard. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1959.
- Howard, Ronald. In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard. London: St. Martin's Press, 1984. ISBN 0-312-41161-8.
- Macdonald, Bill. The True Intrepid: Sir William Stephenson and the Unknown Agents. Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books 2002, ISBN 1-55192-418-8.
- Rey-Ximena, José. El Vuelo de Ibis [The Flight of the Ibis] (in Spanish). Madrid: Facta Ediciones SL, 2008. ISBN 978-84-934875-1-5.
- Rosevink, Ben and Lt Col Herbert Hintze. "Flight 777." FlyPast, Issue No. 120, July 1991.
- Southall, Ivan. They Shall Not Pass Unseen. London: Angus and Robertson, 1956.
- Stevenson, William. A Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible WWII Narrative of the Hero Whose Spy Network and Secret Diplomacy Changed the Course of History. Guilford, Delaware: Lyons Press, 1976, reissued in 2000. ISBN 1-58574-154-X.
- Verrier, Anthony. Assassination in Algiers: Churchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, and the Murder of Admiral Darlan. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1st edition, 1991. ISBN 978-0-393-02828-7.
- Wesselink, Theo and Thijs Postma. DC-3/C-47s: Onder Nederlandse Vlag [DC-3/C-47s: Under The Netherlands Flag] (in Dutch). Alkmaar, The Netherlands: De Alk, 1985. ISBN 90-6013-940-2.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Interview with Mrs Jean Pratten, a personal friend of captain Quirinus Tepas 'Remembering Quirinus Tepas'
- Inside out documentary on BOAC Flight 777
- The History Channel – VANISHINGS: Leslie Howard – Movie Star Or Spy?
- The Shootdown of Leslie Howard, The death of a "Gone with the Wind" star, Dwight Jon Zimmerman, June 20 2013 last reviewed on 2017-05-31
- Tragic Final Flight of The Dakota, Hans Wiesman, 16 oktober 2014 last reviewed on 2017-05-31
- KLM/BOAC DC-3 G-AGBD on far left, rest BOAC lend-lease Dakotas/Liberators at Portela, c. October 1943
- Two KLM/BOAC DC-3s at Portela Airport, c. 1943
- Lufthansa DC-3 between Portuguese and Spanish Airliners Portela, c. 1943
- Actor Leslie Howard: Fate on BOAC Flight 777, Blaine Taylor, March 24 2017 last reviewed on 2020-05-28 Archived 24 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine