Does anyone have any more info on this? I found it in Aberdeen Press & Journal from 8 September 2003
By Iain Grant.
(c) 2003 The Press and Journal Limited .
Wreckage from a World War II fighter plane recovered from a Caithness peat bog has been positively identified.
Detective work by several aviation experts and RAF records have confirmed that the engine came from a Bristol Beaufighter which crashed soon after taking off from Wick, in December 1943.
The plane was fully armed and fuelled for a mission when an engine failed and it ploughed into moorland on Strath Farm, Watten.
After crash-landing, navigator Red McGrath pulled the pilot, Flying Officer JS Cummins, to safety from the blazing plane.
Both suffered burns but survived the crash.
The navigator’s bravery won him a George Medal.
The pilot had been based at Wick since July that year, with 404 Buffalo Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The squadron, which flew the torpedo-carrying Beaufighters, remained at Wick until May the following year.
The information was unearthed by Keith aviation buff Davie Grant, whose imagination was fired after he read in the Press and Journal about the engine and spent ammunition being found by farmer John Mackay and his three sons.
Mr Grant delved into his copy of Beaufighter Squadron by Simon Parry, and reckoned the engine had come from Flying Officer Cummins’s plane.
But the entry in the book does not specify where the plane – called Eightball – came down, so Mr Grant could not be 100 certain it was at Strath.
Confirmation came from ex-RAF serviceman Gary Brindle who found the plane’s registration, and the serial number found on the engine tallied.
The RAF Museum at Hendon also confirmed the identification.
Curator Gordon Leith revealed that the crash had occurred just minutes after take-off and that the crew seemed to have had a lucky escape.
He said: “They had retracted their undercarriage about 12.30pm, when one of the engines failed.
“The aircraft was only 100ft off the ground.”
Mr Leith said the accident is believed to have been caused by oily plugs which should have been cleared prior to take-off.
Mr Mackay and his sons Angus, John and Arnold, had known of the existence of a wartime air crash on their land and had for some time suspected that a piece of the wreckage lay buried on a tract of land which had been scorched.
By: Kentucky Duck - 27th September 2005 at 00:30
Sorry, the file is unreadable as I had to reduce the resolution to get it to upload.
Please send me an email if you would like a higher res file, or if you would like more info.
Thanks.
[email]mr_plow99@msn.com[/email]
By: Kentucky Duck - 27th September 2005 at 00:25
I’m not sure if this post is still active but this was my grandfather’s plane
My name is Jeremy R Cummins – grandson of John S. Cummins.
I’ve been feverishly trying to obtain as much info on his plane (EIGHT BALL – CODE 2-G) as I can.
He died in 1997 so the only way I can get info is through his war records and his flight log book (which my aunt has at the moment).
For the time being, here is an article that was handed out at the time we spread his ashes along with my grandmother’s.
By: Chipmunk Carol - 29th September 2003 at 18:42
Originally posted by Bob
‘eyewitness’ report
Well done Bob. That’s a good story. We’ll have to see if there is a specialist Forum for half-tracks to see if anyone has found one in a bog in the area!
By: kev35 - 29th September 2003 at 18:05
Re: George Medal?
Originally posted by Wombat
It’s a side issue, I know, but I wonder how the crewman was awarded the George Medal. As far as I know, that is awarded for extreme acts of bravery by civilians, yet the aircraft was fully fueled and armed for a mission. Was McGrath a civilian? If he was, what was he doing on that flight?Wombat
Hi, Wombat.
I believe the George Cross and George Medal are awarded for acts of extreme courage, which are carried out “not in the face of the enemy.” Being a crash on take off there was no enemy interference and hence the award of the George Medal.
Regards,
kev35
By: Bob - 29th September 2003 at 18:00
We have a reply!!
An ‘eyewitness’ report of the incident, or at least what happened after the crash.
By: Wombat - 24th September 2003 at 22:57
George Medal?
It’s a side issue, I know, but I wonder how the crewman was awarded the George Medal. As far as I know, that is awarded for extreme acts of bravery by civilians, yet the aircraft was fully fueled and armed for a mission. Was McGrath a civilian? If he was, what was he doing on that flight?
Wombat
By: Chipmunk Carol - 24th September 2003 at 15:38
Thanks chaps. I wonder what Farmer Mackay plans on doing with his find.
By: Bob - 24th September 2003 at 15:29
Interesting as that is my home ground, so to speak. I will post a link to this on the Caithness Community Web Site (CCWS) and see if there is any further info.
This site also has quite a good section called “Wings Over Wick” recounting war time exploits and stories from members of the services who were stationed in the far north during WWII.
(I have pointed out the error in the title of the photo of Hurricanes and Wellington at Wick…)
By: Ross_McNeill - 24th September 2003 at 13:39
Hi,
The No.404 Sqn accident details can be found in the following thread:
http://www.rafcommands.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/3201.html
Hmm… all discussed several days before the article in the daily Press and Journal..
Regards
Ross
Sign In
September 24, 2003 at 1:12 pm