TBF-1 Avenger interned in Spain

Hello All:
I am currently wrting an article about all the USN and USAAF interned
in Spain during WWII, but in the case of one Avenger from the USS
Santee (CVE 29)I am in a dead track.
I found a reference about its landing in the Spanish Archives as well
as in the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships", which I
enclose:

"Underway again on 13 June, with four-stacked destroyers, Bainbridge
(DD-246), Overton (DD-239), and MacLeish (DD-220), Santee reached
Casablanca on 3 July. Four days later, the escort carrier departed the
harbor with a convoy of homeward-bound empties. No submarines were
sighted, but one of her Avengers made a forced landing in Spain, and
its crew was interned. Santee's small task group left the convoy on 12
July with orders to operate independently against Nazi submarine
concentrations south of the Azores. She remained at this antisubmarine
work until 25 July and managed to attack seven surfaced U-boats, at
the price of two Dauntless dive bombers."

I haven´t been able to find its unit (I suppose it was the CV-26) or
the name of its crewmembers. Could anyone throw some light in this???

Best regards and thank you for your help


Javier Aranduy

From: (Javier)
Date: 7/5/2004 10:50 Pacific Daylight Time

Hello All:
I am currently wrting an article about all the USN and USAAF interned
in Spain during WWII, but in the case of one Avenger from the USS
Santee (CVE 29)I am in a dead track.
I found a reference about its landing in the Spanish Archives as well
as in the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships", which I
enclose:

"Underway again on 13 June, with four-stacked destroyers, Bainbridge
(DD-246), Overton (DD-239), and MacLeish (DD-220), Santee reached
Casablanca on 3 July. Four days later, the escort carrier departed the
harbor with a convoy of homeward-bound empties. No submarines were
sighted, but one of her Avengers made a forced landing in Spain, and
its crew was interned. Santee's small task group left the convoy on 12
July with orders to operate independently against Nazi submarine
concentrations south of the Azores. She remained at this antisubmarine
work until 25 July and managed to attack seven surfaced U-boats, at
the price of two Dauntless dive bombers."

I haven´t been able to find its unit (I suppose it was the CV-26) or
the name of its crewmembers. Could anyone throw some light in this???

Best regards and thank you for your help

The book "Hunter-Killer: US Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic" by
Wm. T. Y'Blood doesn't mention the incident in question, but the squadron
history (and/or war diary) for July 1943 that you'll want to get is for VC-29.

Either the Naval Historical Center or Nat'l Archives should be in a position to
help you directly for such a limited and specific request.

http://www.history.navy.mil

http://www.archives.gov/index.html

MW