Reason for Loss |
Airborne 10:18 on a round-robin cross-country training flight to Inverness - Oban - Stornoway - Cape Wrath - Achnashellach Station, and back to RAF Kinloss. At Oban they sent a radio message saying that they had descended to 500 feet in order to remain below the cloud base. Later they radioed their position at Kylerehea. By now they had run into bad weather, and by the time they arrived overhead at Stornoway airfield the visibility was bad and Stornoway airfield had closed its runways due to the depth of snow on them. At 13:02, N9857 sent a message confirming their turning point at Cape Wrath. They indicated that they were attempting to climb over the bad weather. Approximately 10 minutes later, the Wireless Operator at RAF Stornoway picked up a very faint Morse message. "icing up......lost power in port engine......losing height....descending through 3,000 feet ...." and then nothing more after that. The aircraft crash landed on the plateau of the mountain Beinn an Fhurain approximately 3 miles east of Inchnadamph in Sutherland, Scotland at around 2,300 feet. On landing the starboard wing hit a rocky knoll and shattered which sent the aircraft cartwheeling. The fuel in the wing ignited and burnt out most of the wing and part of the forward fuselage. The fate of N9857 and her crew was not discovered until 25th May 1941 when Mr Law, a local shepherd, came across the wreckage of the aircraft while he was out on Beinn an Fhurain. The bodies of five of the airmen were found inside the remains of the fuselage, wrapped in their parachutes. Evidently at least three of them had survived the crash landing but had died of exposure. The body of Mitchell was discovered some half a mile away sheltering under a large boulder. It is believed that he had set out to get help but he too had succumbed to the cold. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the crew were buried nearby and a cairn erected. In June 1985, cadets from 2489 (Bridge of Don) Squadron Air Training Corps refurbished the cairn. Their graves are the highest in the UK. Loss Location: Meall nan Caorach |