Guy Iovine Photograph 23

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British Halifax, almost certainly of 462 SQN RAAF  Info from Bob Livingstone, B-24 Best Web research team member.  Thanks Bob!

Handley Page Halifax B Mk II Serial BB358 462 Squadron RAAF. 

August 9th, 1943. Off the beach by Berka II, Benghazi.

The following information came from Paul McGuiness RAAF Archive.

08 August 1943 - 18th operational Mission.

Sergeant J.D. Evans and crew departed Hosc Raui at 1936hrs with five other Halifax bombers to attack railway yards at San Giovanni, Italy. The aircraft bombed the target without incident and set course for home. Approaching the Libyan coast the crew could not fix their position and tried in vain over the next two hours to locate any Landing Ground where they could put down. Finally, after more than nine hours in the air the Captain decided to ditch close to the shoreline near a beach. At 0436hrs the port inner engine failed due to a lack of fuel followed soon thereafter by the port outer and starboard inner. The pilot quickly managed a single-engine ditching close to the shore and all six crewmen escaped without injury and swam ashore. As it happens, the bedraggled airmen discovered they had ditched very close to Berka II L.G., where they then spent a few hours before returning to Hosc Raui.

RAFVR Pilot 590903 Sergeant J.D. Evans
RAFVR Observer Sergeant J.C. Ashton
RAFVR Wireless Air Gunner Sergeant E.L. Langfold
RAFVR Air Gunner Sergeant R.J. Ellis (Rear Gunner)
RAFVR Flight Engineer Sergeant E.A. Stevens
RAFVR Bomb Aimer Sergeant A.T. Wall

August 10, 1943 - Aircraft struck off charge. While serving with 462 Squadron the aircraft flew 18 operational missions and flew at least 22 non-operational flights.

gettyimages-467372879

This same accident can be seen in the above Ivan Dmitri photo.  Click on the photo to see the original.

The above information was provided by Peter Maxfield.  His father was in the RAF and was attached to the 98th and 376th in early 1943 as they arrived around Benghazi.

376 ARCHIVES

The website 376bg.org is NOT our site nor is it our endowment fund.

At the 2017 reunion, the board approved the donation of our archives to the Briscoe Center for American History, located on the University of Texas - Austin campus.

Also, the board approved a $5,000 donation to add to Ed Clendenin's $20,000 donation in the memory of his father. Together, these funds begin an endowment for the preservation of the 376 archives.

Donate directly to the 376 Endowment

To read about other endowment donation options, click here.


My Trip to San Pancrazio

October 2019


Reunion

NOTE change in month !!!

DATES: Sep 18-21, 2025

CITY:Rapid City, SD

HOTEL:




Click here to read about the reunion details.

previous reunions


For Sale

The Other Doolittle Raid


The Broken Wings of Zlatibor


The Liberandos


Three Crawford Brothers


Liberando: Reflections of a Reluctant Warrior


376th Bomb Group Mission History


The Last Liberator


Full Circle


Shadows of Wings


Ten Men, A "Flying Boxcar," and A War


I Survived Ploesti


A Measure of Life


Shot Down In Yugoslavia


Stories of My Life


Attack


Born in Battle


Bombardier's Diary


Lost Airmen


Langdon Liberando