August 4th Weather

In case the qaulity of the image is too poor to read. this is the Daily Weather Report of the Meteorgological Office, London, International Section, Air Ministry for Wednesday, August 4, 1943.

Of particular interest is Lisbon, Portugal:

Observations at 0700 GMT (0700 UTC, or 7 AM London Time)
312 Feet Above Sea Level
Barometric Pressure At Sea Level (mb): 1018.8
Change in past 3 hours: + 6 mb
Wind Direction: West South West
Force: 2 (4-7 MPH)
Cloud Cover: less than 1/2 covered by clouds (partly cloudy) (1/10th to 3/10th)
Surface Temp: 61 Deg F
Visibility: 7 (Good, 12 1/2 miles)
Minimum Temperature: 57 Deg F

No 1800 GMT (1800 UTC or 6PM) observation is available.

Additional observations (for August 5th) to be posted later.

42-40974

Had Lt. Stamos and crew not run into maintenance difficulties they would have departed Lands End, England for North Africa (1) on the 20th of July 1943 (instead of departing on the 4th of August). If they had departed on the 20th, they would have been flying B-24 42-40974. This ship later went down on the 22nd of December 1943. At the time of its lost the ship was assigned to the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group(2).


1. Will Lundy and I do NOT have documentation showing the reason for or ultimate intended destination of the Stamos crew. It seems logical, however, that the crew was destine for a 9th Army Air Force base in North Africa. As the majority of the 2nd Air Division was actively engaged in raids against Itlay at the time (Ploesti would occur on the 1st of August).

2. The 93rd was one of several groups to participate in the Ploesti raid. I am currently hunting down a copy of the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) for this ship (42-40974).

4 August 1943: The Bombing of Naples

Also occurring on the 4th of August:

The largest raid on Naples. The raid was on August 4, 1943 when 400 planes of the US Mediterranean Bomber Command dropped bombs for one and one-half hours, an attack that destroyed the famous church of Santa Chiara.

See The Bombing Of Naples

Source: Jeff Matthews "Around Naples: Air Raids on Naples in WWII"

Meteorological Data Arrives

My contact at the United Kingdom Meteorological Office came through. A package containing upper air wind speed/directions (winds aloft) for August 4th arrived two days ago. A very quick analysis indicates strong southwesterly winds at flying altitudes persisted for the period. I haven't checked to see if forecast data was included in the package, if so, it will be interesting to see how far forecasted conditions were off from actual conditions.

Syko Is Broken

Evidence will show that the Stamos crew was carrying cryptographic gear. This gear was given the code name SYKO. It is now evident that the German Naval Communications Intelligence organization was able to read SYKO codes. Though, the date which German intelligence first cracked Syko is unknown.

"10. Other German Cryptanalytic Successes.

In addition to Naval Cipher #3 and #5, the following systems are known to have been read by the German naval Communication intelligence organization:
Various British Naval and Air codes (low grade): including COFOX, MEDOX, FOXO, LOXO, SYKO, Air Force code and Aircraft Movement code. "

The preceeding is quoted from page 72, Item 10., "Other German Cryptoanalytic Successes", 'Battle of the Atlantic, Volume I, Allied Communications Intelligence December 1941-May 1945" (SRH-009), Chapter VI: Compromise of Allied Naval Communications Intelligence (an official publication of Central Security Service, U.S. National Security Agency) as transcribed by the Hyperwar Foundation.

See the entire publication here.

August 4th 1943 Weather

Still waiting for official weather data from UK Met, in the meantime, a web report on August 4th activities of the 386th Bomb Group (a B-26 Martin Marauder equipped bomb group) shows unfavorable morning weather.

"August 4, 1943. Flying did not commence until 1230 hours due to ground fog and low ceilings (clouds, ed.). Some local flying only. Flying ended at 2000 hours (8PM local, ed.) "

The bad morning flying weather continued.

"August 5, 1943. No flying from 0700-1300 hours (1PM, ed.) because of inclement weather."

This sort of morning weather continued through the 8th of August.

I thank Chester P. Klier, Historian, 386th Bomb Group for these reports.

See the 386th BG link here:386th BG's August 1943 Missions

Charge d' Affairs George F. Kennan, Lisbon

A document obtained from NARA shows that George F. Kennan was Charge d' Affairs at the American Legation in Lisbon when 1LT Stamos was interrogated. For more on George F. Kennan see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan and http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/2496/future/kennan.html.

UK Met

A very fast (email) reply from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office was received this afternoon. Mr. Ian MacGregor, whom I've dealt with before (April 11, 1944 research) kindly said he will be mailing me historical weather data for August 4th, 1943. I am in his debt.

I hope to discover high upper winds aloft. This will help to account for the large navigational error that the crew of 801 experienced.

Also received today was a reply from folks at The National Archives. The reply was in response to my request for more information on the staff of the American Legation in Lisbon. It is unknown if Colonel Pons was a member of the staff or if he was a member of the Portugese military. The document sure implies Col. Pons was a member of the former, not the latter.

Stamos-Lisbon Project

Thanks to Susan Stamos work on the project has started.

1. A hard copy print out of all relevant documents collected to date has begun.

2. 1LT Alfred W. Foisy, 20th ATC Navigator has been apparently located. Communication
with Mr. Foisy will start ASAP.

3. A request for the 04 August 43 MACR will be forwarded to commercial vendor post haste.

4. An examination of NARA-II records is a must. I'm not sure I have all of the facts.

5. A request for the aircraft (B-24-D-100-CO-42-40801) IRC has been forwarded to USASM.

6. The 93rd BG website history file does not support the notion that an order was issued by that organization for the 04 August 43 flight. A review of May 2005 correspondence supports the 93rd BG website statement. 40801 was previously assigned to 328th BS, 93rd BG prior to the 04 August 43 flight.

7. The disposition of the American Legation-Lisbon MLO Officer B.G. (then Col.) Stephen O. Fuqua, Jr. has been assertained. He died in 1998 and is buired at USMA at West Point.

8. The disposition of "Col. Pons" and Prestwick Captain Harry L. Glasser (possible incorrect last name) has not been determined.

9. A review of Post Lisbon incident records reveals that an "observer" was assigned to the next recorded Stamos flight (that of 9/26/43). The observer appears to be an Operations Officer, is it possible that Squadron or Group has some questions as to the ability of the crew to function?

9a. It is noted that 20th A.T.C. Navigator Foisy accepted full responsibility for the navigation error on the night of 04 August 43.