1942. Gibraltar The first operation to Gibraltar was almost a disaster; out of five aircraft which set out from Decimomannu in Sardinia, one (MM.22004) was forced to return due to engine trouble while the other four bombed with 66 100 kg (220 lb) and six 250 kg (550 lb) bombs. Three of them, short of fuel, were forced to land in Spain, two of which (MM.22001 and 22005) crashed or suffered some damage in forced landings. The third (MM.22007) landed in Majorca, a former Italian base in the Spanish Civil War, and thanks to the Spanish pro-Axis policy was quickly refueled and took off from Palma de Majorca for Italy. The two others remained in Spain: MM.22001 crashed on a beach when it was approaching Valencia airport and was written off, MM.22005 suffered minor damage and was stored at San Javier air base but was repaired and tested by the Spanish Air Force. Several other missions were launched until October, which resulted in some damage and further losses. An attempt to change to SM.82s was an expedient (as was the P.108, expecting more from the future P.133). For a chronology, there were sorties to Gibraltar (without the endurance problems that dogged the first mission), during the night of 3 July (MM.22601 failed to return), 24 September (MM22004 and 22603), 20 October (MM.22002 (written off during an emergency landing after engine failure on takeoff), MM.22004, 22006 and 22007) and 21 October (MM.22602, destroyed during an emergency landing at Bône in Algeria, and two other P.108s), when the "peak" was reached. Each of these missions, involving one to four aircraft (15 sorties in total), was unsuccessful and resulted in around 33% losses. The results were poor, with one Hudson and some artillery positions destroyed on the ground in the first "big" mission and further unspecified damage in the others, despite intensive long-range mission crew training between 3 July and September. On 28 October, MM22007 force-landed in Algeria on its third sortie, making in total at least 16 sorties with one aircraft missing, two lost in Spain, two lost in Algeria and one lost in Italy. Algeria and Africa Following the Allied invasion of French North Africa, codenamed "Operation Torch", more losses were sustained when these aircraft flew missions over Algeria and other African targets. The Allies had over 160 warships and 250 merchant ships in the region. The Luftwaffe had 1,068 aircraft