I have a note that the PBM-3C Mariners of VP-201 began using the "L-8C searchlight" during the autumn of 1943 with its use then spreading to other units. At July 1943 this may have been an experimental version. But I've never seen a photo of a Mariner with one.
There was a podded version of the British Leigh Light able to be carried under the wing of Liberator and Catalina aircraft which was introduced sometime between May and Oct 1943. I've never heard of any pilots having troubles with it despite it being widely fitted to the Coastal Command fleets of these aircraft.
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Edit:- Another possibility for the loss is what is now called "target fixation". Pilots concentrate so hard on the target that they blank out everything else until they realise too late that they have a problem. Next thing they know they have crashed.