I believe some aerobatic machines have a symmetrical aerofoil section.

I see no reason ordinary aircraft couldn’t fly with the wing inverted, although it would fly with a much higher angle of attack and require more power to maintain height. If you watch a glider flying inverted, the nose is pointing steeply at the sky and it’s glide angle is severely degraded.

It’s almost funny to have politicians, mostly millionaires who employ accountants to minimise their tax liabilities, criticise the black economy.

And all because some people in shorts want to run and jump about a bit. Are UAV’s being introduced as a step up in the level of surveillance we tolerate as normal?

It’s not the running, jumping and throwing things that annoys me, it’s the ridiculous sponsorship deals. Sponsor companies include Pampers nappies, Coca Cola, Macdonalds and Gillette – presumably endorsed by fat, rotten toothed, burger guzzling, hirsute, incontinent slobs whose habitual mode of dress is the tracksuit/trainers combo?

All that’s missing from the sponsor list is Silk Cut and Special Brew.

I can think of several wreck sites I’ve been party to that have not been properly researched or caught the interest of the established groups.

Take the Ju 188 that came down near Rothes. Apart from a few disparate pieces of information and misinformation, there was no definitive record of who was involved, when, what and exactly where the incident occured. I’ve helped to put that story to bed.

The same can be said for the Whitley which came down on Ben Aigen. Where were the organised groups? Without involving the MOD or anybody else we quietly and with some dignity and thought restored the memorial built in 1945 by a 3 year old girl and sent her some photos. Sod the MOD and the licences – we did what the lady asked us to do. We found it, we rebuilt it and we respected the memory of the crew.

And who put to bed the story of the Lancaster engine bearers near Rothes?

This isn’t exhaustive, but if the organised groups want to know, who will they be asking?

Below is an article I put into our village paper –

Some time ago I used the Rothesian to enquire if readers had any memories of local wartime aircraft accidents in the Rothes area. I received a number of responses which helped me glean some historical information.

.On 24th September 1940, during a cross country exercise from RAF Kinloss, Whitley P5006 of 19 OTU crashed on Ben Aigen. All on board were killed. The crew consisted of

Flt Sgt C H Ashley
Sgt D S Proudfoot
Sgt N R Foley
Sgt E S Millard
Sgt P H Lucas DFM
Sgt I D S E Hay.

A friend of mine was in contact with Sgt Hays sister, Rhona Hay, who was born after her older brother had died in the accident. Rhona provided a map reference and asked us to take some photos of the cairn at the site which, as a 3 year old, she’d helped her father to build in 1945. We located the accident site in the woods on the north side of the large ravine which runs down the face of the hill. At the site were a few pieces of wreckage and a jumble of mossy rocks which looked as if they had been placed there. We cleaned off the moss and rebuilt the stones into a small cairn, and took some photos which we sent to Rhona. Although there is a cairn on the summit, I’m not sure this is related to the Whitley accident as many hills around here have a cairn on the summit. I think it more likely that the jumble of rocks we found were the remains of the memorial Rhona helped her father to build. It was satisfying to be able to add something to the story of this accident and to provide Rhona with a memento.

On 14th February 1942, Wellington N2825 from 20 OTU based at RAF Lossiemouth took off for night flying practice. Around 2335 hours the aircraft crashed at Drumbain. The accident was attributed to engine failure. Five of the crew were killed and Sgt Burr was found injured. The crew consisted of:

RAF PO Cobb, R E Captain (Pilot)
RAF PO Witter, A S (Pilot)
RAF Sgt H Clark, (Observer)
RAAF 407283 Sgt J Bishop, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAAF 400344 Sgt J H Goldie, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt N A Burr, (Air Gunner)

Sgt’s Bishop and Goldie, both of The Royal Australian Air Force, are buried in Lossiemouth Cemetery.

On 21st June 1944, in the early hours, a German Ju 188F-1, Werke Nr 280608 A6+HH came down on the hill around 2 miles to the NW of Rothes. This was a reconnaissance aircraft based in Norway and it lost an engine, which came down 1/4 of a mile away. It was scattered wreckage that was found, some time later, with the crew dead. The crew, Fw F. Schanze, Oblt J. Winne and W. Sebisch are buried in Lossiemouth cemetery.

Thanks to everyone who helped. If there are any other wartime aircraft incidents in the vicinity of Rothes that I’ve missed, I’d be very interested to do some further research.

I will continue to pursue my hobby, and I will not feel obliged to ask for permission.

Aileron input to raise a wing at speeds close to the stall is a recipe for disaster. Asking a nearly stalled wing to produce more lift is likely to stall that wing and induce a spin. My understanding of washout is that it encourages the centre section of the wing to stall first, as the outer wing is at a lower angle of attack, so that a stall is less likely to induce a wing to drop.

I made a mormon cry once, and his pal was most upset with me too. He told me that they had come all the way from America to be missionaries in Scotland, and I shouldn’t try to undermine their faith.