9 guides
When a Sunderland Fell From the Sky Over Lough Erne
On 18 November 1943, a Short Sunderland flying boat was making routine practice runs on Lough Erne in County Fermanagh. These vast, imposing aircraft—four-engine maritime patrol bombers designed for the Battle of the Atlantic—had become a familiar sight over the lake.
The Duke and the Sunderland at Eagle’s Rock
A Sunderland bound for Iceland struck the Caithness coast at Eagle’s Rock, killing fourteen of the fifteen people aboard. Among them was Prince George, Duke of Kent, making this remote Scottish crash site part of a tragedy that reached all the way to the Royal Family.
The Flying Fortress on Skiddaw
Ten American airmen were aboard *Flaming Mayme* when the B-17 struck the screes just below Skiddaw’s summit. Discover what brought the Flying Fortress over the Lake District and why only scattered fragments now remain on the mountainside.
Over Exposed: The B-29 Lost on Bleaklow
Twisted metal scattered across an empty stretch of moor marks one of Britain’s best-known aircraft crash sites. Discover why the American B-29 *Over Exposed* flew into Bleaklow and how its wreckage became an enduring memorial to the thirteen men aboard.
The Fox and the Airman of Buckden Pike
After a Wellington struck Buckden Pike in a snowstorm, one badly injured Polish airman was left alone on the mountain. His remarkable account of following a fox to safety later inspired one of the Yorkshire Dales’ most distinctive memorials.
The Memorial on Hameldown
Among Dartmoor’s prehistoric remains stands a much newer memorial, carved into the granite after a Hampden bomber crashed on Hameldown. Discover the four men commemorated there and why the pilot’s mother chose this remote ridge as the place to remember them.
North Barrule and the Isle of Man’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy
A stone memorial on North Barrule marks the place where an American B-17 struck the hillside with 31 people aboard. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in Manx history, yet many visitors pass beneath the mountain knowing nothing about it.
The Mountain That Changed Mountain Rescue
When a Lancaster crashed near the summit of Beinn Eighe, the terrain proved almost impossible for rescuers to reach. The difficult and heartbreaking recovery exposed the limitations of the time—and helped transform RAF Mountain Rescue into the service it became.
Eight Men on Great Carrs: The Last Flight of Halifax LL505
High on the ridge between Great Carrs and Swirl How, pieces of a Halifax bomber still lie where the aircraft came down in cloud. This is the story of its eight-man crew, the final flight of LL505 and the memorial that now watches over the Coniston Fells.