Surface Weather at Lisbon, 04-5 August 1943

Surface weather at Lisbon, Portugal has been obtained(1)

There are three (3) surface observation reports. They are for 0700 GMT 04 August, 0700 GMT 05 August and 1800 GMT 05 August. The 1800 GMT report is not recorded on the chart.

According to a Legend provided by UK Met the following observations are made:

Station: Lisbon
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 1943
Time: 0700 GMT
Station Elevation: 312 Feet (Above Sea Level)
Barometric Pressure: 1018.8 mb
Barometric Pressure Change: +6 mb in last 3 hours
Surface Winds: West South West at 4-7 Miles Per Hour (2)
Sky: Blue Sky to Partly Cloudy, with less than 1/2 sky covered. 1/10th to 3/10th covered.
Nightime Low: 57 Deg F
Temperature: 61 Deg F
Visibility: 12 1/2 Miles (horizontal)

Station: Lisbon
Date: Thursday, 05 August 1943
Time: 0700 GMT
Barometric Pressure: 1019.5 mb
Barometric Pressure Change: 0 in last 3 hours
Surface Winds: North-North-West at 4-7 Miles Per Hour (2)
Sky: Mist, Cloud heights (base) 4,000 feet. 1/10th to 3/10th coverage.
Nightime Low: 50 Deg F
Temperature: 64 Deg F.
Visibility: 2 1/2 miles (Poor)

Station: Lisbon
Date: Thursday, 05 August 1943
Time: 1800 GMT
Barometric Pressure: 1017.5 mb
Barometric Pressure Change: o in last 3 hours
Surface Winds: North-West at 13-18 MPH (2)
Sky: Generally Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, more than 9/10th coverage but with openings
Nightime Low: N/A
Temperature: 72 Deg F
Visibility: 12 1/2 miles
1. Also from the UK Met Office.

2. This was converted from the Beaufort Scale of Wind Force to miles per hour by a separate chart included in the package from the UK Met Office.

7AM Surface Weather for August 4th

The surface conditions for the morning of August 4th is depicted in this chart obtained from the United Kingdom Meteorological office (1). The chart reveals mostly cloudy surface conditions (from 1/4 to 1/2 clouded over southern England to full overcast over southwestern England to full overcast conditions over portions of Portugal).

Surface temperatures are generally in the mid 60s (Deg F) throughout the area. This is the 7H G.M.T. (7 Hour, Greenwich Mean Time) observation. "All times are G.M.T.. Add two hours to fet double summer time" is noted on the bottom of the chart. It isn't clear if 'double summer time" was in effect for our crew on the 4th of August.

1. The original source was Meteorlogical Office, Air Ministry, Kingsway, London, W.C.2., Nelson K. Johnson, K.C.B., D. Sc., Director.

American Legation Letter of August 5th, 1943

Unedited Text of the "Certificate" Above follows:

Legation of the United States of America
Lisbon, August 5, 1943

The bearer of this certificate, ROBERT G. STAMOS, an American citizen, was born on August 20, 1921, at Danville, Illinois, United States of America. His permanent residence is Salt Lake City, Utah. He is temporarily residing in Portugal pending repatriaton to the United States.

George F. Kennan,
Charge d'Affaires ad interim.

Traduccao

O portado deste certificado, ROBERT G. STAMOS, cidadao americano, nasceu em 20 Agosto de 1921, em Danville, Illinois, Estados Unidos de America. A sua residencia permanete e em Salt Lake city, Utah. Esta residindo temporariemente em Portugal emquanto aguarda repatriacuo para os Estados Unidos.

Research Comments:

1. We know that ROBERT GLENN STAMOS (GLENN) later returned to England and resumed his combat flying. He never returned to the United States.

2. I find it amusing the document says that GLENN was "temporarily residing" in Portugal. There is no mention of his "internment" or "imprisonment".

3. I have briefly checked the Portugese text (see above) using a free online tool (BabelFish). The translation appears to match the English text.

4. Ironies of Ironies. George F. Kennan, Charge d'Affairs of the American Legation in Portugal, the man who signed the document above was himself (and his staff) interned in Berlin by the Germans from December 1941 to June 1942.

5. In September of 1952, Kennan was booted out of the Soviet Union. While acting as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Kennan compared the conditions of the ambassador's residence in Moscow to those he experienced while being interned by the Germans, apparently the Soviets didn't like the analogy.

For more on Kennan see the link here.

Winds Aloft Charts #3 and #4

Source: Air Ministry, Daily Weather Report of the Meteorological Office, London, Upper Air Section, Wednesday, 4th August 1943 at about 06 Greenwich Mean Time (ed. UTC, or Zulu).
No. 8833.

Left panel caption is: The continuous lines are contour lines of the 300 mb (millibar) surface. The dotted lines are isopleths of the thickness of the layer 500-300 (sic) mb.

Right panel caption is: Contour lines of Height of Tropopause. Meteorological Office, Air Ministry, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
Nelson K. Johnson, K.C.B., D. Sc., Director

Editorial Comment: These charts depicit upper air wind velocities at specific heights ("pressure altitudes") in the atmosphere at the time noted (approximately 6AM local time) on the morning of the 4th of August, 1943. These "winds aloft" charts are critical to proper flight planning. From these, and other charts, a new "flight plan" will be constructed (the "re-navigation" project). The new plan (which will account for known and forecasted upper wind velocities (speed and direciton)) will be compared against the course the crew of 801 is known to have actually flown (from letters from both the Pilot and Navigator).

Deviation from the "new plan" may reveal that the crew was misinformed or incorrectly informed. It also, however, may show that the weather data was invalid at the time of the flight (this is the positon the navigator took). Finally, the re-navigation may show something altogether different and unexpected.

(I must purchase new World Aeronautical Charts ("WAC") charts for this exercise to be completed.)

National Archives Response to US Embassy Staff in Lisbon Email Query

The following is an edited e-mail response I received (April 18, 2006) from the National Archives in regards to a query I sent (April 15, 2006) regarding the identities of US employees at the US Legation in Lisbon, Portugal (1943):

"If we knew details (names of crew, date, air group, etc) we might be able to locate relevant documentation."

TKNenninger
Chief
Modern Military Records

The actual query was:

Re: Records created by Federal non-military agencies

I will be visiting the Archives (II) for a second time, sometime this summer. I would like to locate records regarding the Military Liasion Office of the US Embassy/Legation in Lisbon, Portugal for the month of August 1943.

I am hoping you can direct me to the proper records group. I am looking for a list of officers and events surrounding the interrogation of an American Allied aircrew in August of 1943 by the MLO staff.

------

Comments:

Of particular interest is the full identity and nationality of Col. Pons. Col. Pons' name appears on a handwritten document that was found at the Archives, it indicates that 1LT Stamos was interrogated by Pons in Lisbon. The questions are: Was Pons working for the U.S. authorities? Or was a member of the Portugese military?

August 4th Weather Continued.

Weather on the Evening of August 4th, 1943 (Synoptic)

The August 21, 1943 Escape Order

Bern Legation Codes Broken, Additional Sources

Evidence That the Germans Broke Allied Codes

Author David Irving, in Nuremburg: The Last Battle, cites the interrogation of a German agent "Laun" as another source (Page 483, Footnote 268). Irving references the Interrogation of Laun. Testimony is in the National Archives holdings, Record Group 84, US Embassy London, Box 22, Secret Files. See Iriving's reference here.

No other information on "Laun" is currently available.

Dulles Knew

In an undated excerpt of a previously "confidential" paper(1) on the Central Intelligence Agency website it is clear that Office of Strategic Services(2) Bern(2a) Station Chief Allen Dulles was aware that the "Germans had broken many Allied codes" as early as the 19th of August, 1943(3). Previously to that, Dulles was informed by German Abwehr(4) source GISEVIUS(5) that "some Bern Legation messages had been read".

It is still not known precisely what codes were 'broken' or exactly when these codes were compromised, but US intelligence was indeed informed.

There are additional sources that indicate the Germans had broken (some) Allied codes prior to the raid on Ploesti(6).







Notes

1. Paper is "Alias George Wood", written by Anthony Quibble. Paper was "Approved For Release, CIA Historical Review Program, 22 September 1993) See link here.

2. OSS was the forrunner to the CIA.

2a. Switzerland

3. Dulles along with an Gerald Mayer, a U.S. employee of the Office of War Information(3a) (Bern Station) met German citizen (soon to be US Spy) by the name of Fritz Kolbe at Mayer's Bern home on the morning of the 19th of August. It is at this meeting that Dulles (et al) was told about breaking of Allied codes. Koble, who would later be a valuable asset to the Allies, was employed in the German Foreign Office.

3a. The Office of War Information was a sister organization of the OSS. It was temporarily housed in the same building as the OSS (Bern).

4. The Abwehr was German intelligence organization.

5. This may be Hans Bernd Gisevius is the Wikipedia entry is correct. Gisevius's full name does NOT appear in the CIA website document. See the Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bernd_Gisevius

6. The raid was on 1st of August, 1943.

Ploesti and Syko

caught a new 30 minute TV documentary on Ploesti (Tidal Wave) last night on THE MILITARY CHANNEL. A piece I've never seen before. Well done, but short. Included an interview with Richard Butler. Some "new" footage (new to me), some in color. The only ship I could positively identifiy was Peep Sight (42-7535) - good color shot of her.

Commentator indicated that 'The Germans' knew "we" were coming (to Ploesti) from Benhgazi because the Germans had broken "a code" (or system ?). Sounds like Allieds were sending coded transmissions to aircraft while on the Ploesti mission, perhaps this is Syko gear was used (same gear Stamos had on board 42-40801). One way to possibly prove it, to pull the KUs for aircraft lost on the mission and see if the Germans noted finding any such gear in their reports (in KU 1447 for the Bernburg 11 Apr 44 raid the Germans note make and model of the radios on board 42-7522 and make/model of the camera that was also on board 42-7522).

Very curious as to when the Germans broke Syko and when the Allieds learned about it.