http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/26.htm
February 26th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Convoy WN91 sails from Gourock, Scotland at 1830 with the SS FORTHBANK as the commodore ship leading the port column. Escorts were HM Trawlers PIROUETTE and GAVOTTE, joined by Anti-Aircraft Cruiser HMS CURAÇOA. The convoy experienced a very strong gale for much of its passage. SS FORTHBANK is inbound with steel and general cargo from New York via the Mersey and the Clyde for Hull. At Methil TEWKESBURY joined the awaiting convoy EN79 for passage around the north coast of Scotland to Loch Ewe, where she was scheduled to join an Atlantic convoy, to begin the ocean part of her passage to Buenos Aires on the River Plate. There she was to unload and then pick up cargo for return to the UK. (Bernard de Neumann) (next on 1 March 1941)
Corvette HMS Convolvulus commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-84 and U-408 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GREECE: The Greek government agrees to accept a British force of 100,000 men with suitable artillery and tank support. Decisions about where to place this force are not made.
SPAIN: Dictator Francisco Franco, in response to Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s appeal to enter the war, says, “I stand today already at your side, entirely and decidedly at your disposal,” but refuses to enter the war. (Jack McKillop)
LIBYA: Koufra: Leclerc’s Free French force blows up the Italian ammunition dump of 250 cases of bombs.
TURKEY: British Secretary of State Anthony Eden and Field Marshall Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, continue their Middle East mission with a visit to Ankara, but they get no real response to their efforts to interest the Turks in an alliance. (Jack McKillop)
JAPAN: The Japanese Foreign Minister sends the following message to the consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: “Please wire reports covering the positions and movements also of the ships of Canada’s Pacific Fleet. Please transmit to Ottawa and from that office -—— to the Naval Attaché.” (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: An extensive modification of aircraft markings added the National Star Insignia to both sides of the fuselage or hull and eliminate those on the upper right and lower left wings; discontinued the use of colored tail markings, fuselage bands and cowl markings; made removal of vertical red, white and blue rudder stripes mandatory; and changed the color of all markings, except the National Insignia, to those of least contrast to the background. (Jack McKillop)
Eastern Air Lines Douglas DST-318A, msn 3250, registered NC28394, crashes at Atlanta Municipal Airport, Georgia, killing all eight on board.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Eleven ships of convoy OB-290 are sunk by German planes; the submarine U-47 called in the attack. (Jack McKillop)
SS Göteborg with 20 crewmembers and three passengers Göteborg with 20 crewmembers and three passengers believed sunk by U-70 SE of Iceland.
In the early morning on 26 Feb 1941, U-47 attacked the convoy OB-290 and reported four ships of 22,000 tons sunk. In fact, the Kasongo, Rydboholm and Borgland were sunk and Diala was damaged. At 0137, Borgland in station #35 was struck by one torpedo on the port side in the #2 hold. The crew abandoned the slowly sinking ship with an increasing list in 55°53N/13°33W and was picked up by HMS Pimpernel. Rydboholm was hit at 0110 by a torpedo on port side in her bow in the second attack from U-47 on the convoy OB-290. She sank slowly with her propeller above water and the crew abandoned the ship. Still afloat in the morning, she was reboarded by the crew, but sank as the wind increased. All crewmembers were picked up by Pimpernel. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 545 February 26, 1941
Operation Abstention. Before dawn, British destroyers HMS Decoy and HMS Hereward and gunboat HMS Ladybird land 200 commandos and 24 Royal Marines on the Italian-held Dodecanese island of Castelorizo, off the coast of Turkey. They rapidly capture the small Italian garrison but the defenders radio for help and Italian aircraft arrive quickly from Rhodes. HMS Ladybird is bombed, then re-embarks the 24 Royal Marines and leaves for Cyprus.
190 miles Northwest of Ireland, U-47 attacks convoy OB-290 sinking 3 merchant ships and damaging 1 more before dawn. U-47 is depth charged by convoy escorts. Signals from U-47 bring in Fw200 bombers (I. Gruppe KG 40 from Bordeaux, France) which attack at 9 AM and 6.45 PM from low level (100-200 feet) sinking 8 more ships. Elsewhere around the British coast, German bombers sink 4 merchant ships and German motor torpedo boat sinks 1 more. U-70 sinks Swedish SS Goteborg South of Iceland.
Allied Middle East command reorganises forces in North Africa, not expecting aggressive action from Italian and German forces in Tripoli. Battle-hardened Australian 6th Division, conquerors of Libya from Bardia to Benghazi, will be sent to Greece to face the expected German invasion. They will be replaced by newly-formed Australian 9th Division, scraped together from partially-equipped infantry brigades currently training in Palestine, leaving the defense of Eastern Libya to troops “selected by the test that they are the least trained or most recently enlisted”. As Benghazi cannot be used as a supply port due to Luftwaffe bombing, troops and supplies have to travel 400 miles by road from Tobruk.
Eastern Airlines Flight 21, night of February 26, 1941. Sometimes called the “Rickenbacker Crash” due to the presence of Eastern Airlines President and former WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker on board. Eastern DC-3 (NC28394) crashed during inclement weather after controlled flight into terrain while shooting an instrument approach into Candler Field (current ATL). Of 25 total passengers and crew, there were 16 fatalities and 9 injured (including Rickenbacker).
Broadly speaking, the instrument approach for the day called for an overflight of the radio beacon at the airport at a specific altitude on the reciprocal runway heading for 5 minutes, then execute a procedure 180 degree turn to the runway heading, then proceed inbound to the airport while gradually descending to the runway. Shortly after performing the procedure turn the aircraft struck the tops of pine trees, and then crashed heavily into a ravine beyond, totally destroying the aircraft. Due to the (then) remote location, rescue crews did not arrive until daylight.
CAB investigation concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error due to the misuse of altimeter settings by the pilot and copilot. In other words, the aircraft was much lower throughout the approach than the flight crew thought they were.
PLEASE NOTE: Contemporary news accounts of this crash are aggravatingly vague as to its precise location. Most accounts describe it as “down a dirt road off Highway 54 north of Jonesboro.” The CAB report is likewise silent on the exact location. This TAG is placed on what I could glean from the two sources noted above, plus the recollections of an old-timer I spoke with from the area who recalls the crash. Many roads have been added and/or realigned in the area since the crash.