Heading for Assynt for the dedication ceremony for the Anson that crashed in 1941.,

WAR MEMORIAL DEDICATION CEREMONY INCHNADAMPH 12 JUNE 2014

 Many thanks to all who commented on my we piece on my freind Mick Anderson, it was great to get some great comments. For all the failings of modern communications the intranet has given us a powerful tool for people to pass there thought to the family at a time like this. It is greatly appreciated and some of the write up were incredible what a man Mick Anderson was. Lat night was wild with thunder and lightning and heavy rain at home then it cleared and was a beautiful night. For the next few days I am up  on the North West at the Anson Aircraft Assynt Crash site near Ben More Assynt. There will be a short service at the site tomorrow and if anyone is in the area it is a special place to be. I will travel up on today after golf and be there for the walk up on Thursday. It is a special place for me and I written in detail about it in my blog some of which is attached at the end of this piece.

I will enjoy the drive up and maybe a wander when I arrive, I am staying at the SMC  Naismith hut at Elphin with views of that great mountain outside the hut door.   

The old memorial in winter.

 AIMS:-

It is the aim of this exercise that the relatives of these 6 Airmen who died on 13 April 1941 while tasking part in a training flight from 19 OTU RAF Kinloss,  manage to attend the dedication ceremony for the new Memorial Stone put in place last year by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission. This replaces the earlier stone cairn built by Air Cadets from Bridge of Don Squadron Air Training Corps in the 1970s and subsequently maintained by the 161 DF Ullapool Air Cadets who took on the task after their formation in 1995. That stone cairn replaced a simple memorial erected by the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team. The granite block that forms the new memorial was air lifted in last year by a RAF Chinook Helicopter.

 

Chinook in action bringing new Memorial in.

Attendees:-

It is hoped that as many relatives as possible of those who died attend and can get up to the actual grave site. Also that representatives from the RAF Lossiemouth, Assynt and Dundonnel Mountain Rescue Teams, the Ullapool and Inverness Air Cadets, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission and other organisations who have been involved in both the building and maintenance of the earlier memorials can attend.

 

Rendezvous point:-

Inchadamph Car Park  on right hand side of road when going North.

The Old Kirk is within walking distance as is the Inchnadamph Hotel

PLEASE NOTE THE MAIN ROAD ADJACENT TO THESE LOCATIONS IS BUSY AND CARRIES FAST TRAFFIC, PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE CROSSING IF YOU ARE GOING TO THE OLD KIRK. For those of you from overseas we drive on the left so be aware that traffic may approach you from a different direction than you are used to.

Police Scotland will be providing POLICE SLOW signs to be placed adjacent to the carriageway.

 

Finishing touches.

Timings on scene;-

All Times are BST (UTC+1hour)

All involved meet up at the Old Kirk Inchnadamph adjacent to the A835 (25 miles north of Ullapool towards  Lochinver) at Ordnance Survey Grid Reference Sheet 15 NC 250 220 at 1000 Hrs.

The original Cairn 1942

Those then walking up to the memorial  about a 2 – 3 hour walk

“Lest we forget”

 

Avro Anson  N9857  from 19 OTU RAF Kinloss Map reference NC 295224

 

The RAF Mountain Rescue Service was formed during the war to rescue downed aircrew in the mountains. As the Kinloss Team trains throughout Scotland at times we come across old crash sites from this period. Regularly the team was train near Ullapool and visited the crash site the story of this aircraft and its crew it is a reminder to those who gave so much. The crash site is a moving place at over 2000 feet high on Imir Fada near Ben More Assynt it is in a remote area about 5 miles from the nearest road.

 

On the 13th April 1941 an Anson aircraft from RAF Kinloss on a cross country training flight crashed near Ben More in the North West Highlands at Inchnadampth above Ullapool.The aircraft had taken off from Kinloss in less than ideal weather to follow a route via Oban, Stornaway and Cape Wrath before returning to Kinloss. The aircraft had completed the first two legs of its flight and reported passing Stornaway in icing conditions around this time the aircrafts port engine lost power and failed. Sometime after this having either flown onto Cape Wrath or turning for base near Stornaway the aircraft flew into high ground in near white out conditions to the North East of Inchnadamph.  The aircraft was reported overdue at Kinloss and an air search was initiated but this failed to locate the missing aircraft, it wasn’t until the 25th May that the aircraft was located by a shepherd. All six of the crew were killed. The crash site is the only site in Scotland where the crew are buried at the crash site. This crash happened in the days before a proper mountain rescue service existed. It became policy thereafter to recover bodies no matter how difficult or unpleasant this might be. It should be noted that at the time of the crash it is said that 3 local shepherds’ died in the wild weather. When the wreck was discovered it was thought that the crew may have survived the crash but died shortly after of exposure and their injuries. One crew member had attempted to walk for help but was walking east away from civilisation and had died of hypothermia.  The aircraft was found by a local shepherd on the 25 Th May 1941, nearly 6 weeks after the aircraft went missing! The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has placed a memorial to the crew beside the gateway to the local church at Inchnadamph. The inscription reads;

 

“Here are commemorated the crew of an aircraft crash on Ben More Assynt on the 13 Th. of April 1941, whose bodies rest where they fell”

 

Flying Officer JH Steyn DFC.  Pilot

Pilot Officer WE Drew.             Observer/ Instructor

Sergeant J Emery.                      Wireless operator gunner

Flight Sergeant T R Kenny.       Wireless Operator

Sergeant CM Mitchell.              Observer Pupil

Sergeant HA Tompsett. .           Wireless operator gunner.

 

There is an early memorial on the site where the crew are buried and an updated one which was built by members Aberdeen & Ullapool Air Training Core and the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team lead by Sqn Ldr Eric Hughes MBE.  I think the date for this was June 1985?

 

The memorial was in a poor state and needed urgent repairs and as the crash site is very remote assistance was sought from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. After nearly two years and 6 visits to the site it is now in the final process of being upgraded by the War Graves Commission. We visited the site in May 2012 with and then in March 2013 we had assistance form a Chinook from the RAF JHSS in full winter, they dropped off all the building materials for this summer. It was a 0300 start for me and a quick sleep in the car park awaiting the ground crew. In May we were back again and the old memorial removed and the site made ready for the new Memorial to be flown in. The old plaque is now in the churchyard at Inchnadampth where it is attached to the Memorial, it is a place of great beauty and peace.

 

This was planned for the end of July weather and aircraft availability. It all went to plan and now there is a wonderful tribute to those who died. I was part of the party that assisted.  It was fitting that on the 70 th Anniversary of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service that this wonderful tribute is now in place. All the long days and early starts will be worth it, we will have a memorial that should stand the test of time and need little maintenance long after we are gone.

 

Please if you walk to this remote site enjoy the peace and beauty and “take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints”. This is a wonderful peaceful place let us look after it for future generations.

 

We must never forget those who gave so much for us.

 

The Assynt Anson

 

For 6 weeks they lay, alone in Assynt.

Found by a shepherd after a wild winter storm.

This is the place is where the six lie.

They did not choose to die!

 

On a flight from Kinloss, in winter of 41

They were lost.

They crashed in a storm.

Where wild and windswept is the norm.

 

Above 2000 feet they lay all 6,

They did not choose to die.

Now this scared place is to be marked.

By a memorial bright and new,

To remember those who died for you.

 

“Lest we forget”

 

Thanks to all who helped – too many to name but you know who you are!

 

Please remember all aircraft crash sites are war graves and should be treated as such. This article is dedicated to those who gave their lives for us and to my great friend and mentor Squadron Leader Eric Hughes MBE of the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team.

 

Between 1 January 1939 and 31 December 1945 over 36000 aircraft were written off in Scotland on the hills or the sea round its coasts, resulting in the loss of over 47000 lives. (173 were Ansons alone)

 

David “Heavy” Whalley BEM. MBE  11 June 2014