The Shackelton Crash Harris AEW MK2 WR965. 30thApril 1990 Grid reference NF 996914
I am in Harris just now having an incredible trip. I have been so lucky to walk and climb here over the years. It like all Islands has a magical feel about. The minute you leave the ferry you seem to enter another world.
I am here with a friend Kalie who has booked a lovely bothy near Scarisdale beach. Amazingly It is about 2 kilometres from where we were based for the Shackelton crash 30 years ago..
The RAF Mountain Rescue Service was formed during the Second World War to rescue aircrew from crashed aircraft in the mountains of the UK. To this day the 3 RAF Teams that still survive are still called to carry out some difficult recoveries of aircraft both Service and civilian in the mountains.
This is the sad story of this incident and the part played by the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team on the Island of Harris.
I go back to the 30 April 1990 Isle of Harris, it is still so clear in my thoughts.
It was a beautiful day at RAF Kinloss which is situated in Moray on the North East coast of Scotland. Unusually a lot of the Mountain Rescue Team had gathered in the crew room. It was just before lunch time when I was told on the phone by the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) and there was a Shackelton aircraft missing from RAF Lossiemouth. It had been on a Training sortie from Lossiemouth and was last seen near Benbeculla, near the Isle of Harris on the West Coast of Scotland.
I was told a helicopter from Lossiemouth a Sea King would be at Kinloss in 10minutes and would take 10 of my team to the area. This is called a “fast party” a quick fast response to any incident. I was the Mountain Rescue Team Leader at Kinloss I had a very strong team on this incident.
In these circumstances 10 minutes is not long to prepare and the teams have a long established protocols to ensure we have the correct equipment to carry out any rescue. We managed to get to the aircraft pan ready for the Seaking Helicopter which landed rotors running and we were off!
In an aircraft crash information is coming in all the time, from the ARCC. As The Team Leader I was getting constant updates from the aircrew and passing the information on to the team members in the back of the noisy helicopter not easy.
In any incident the helicopter flies flat out on a Rescue the crew are in full on mode and as a Team Leader you are on a microphone direct to the crew.
This is especially true when it is an aircraft from their station at RAF Lossiemouth, nothing was spared. I was up front with the pilots and getting all the updates on my earpiece. There are so many things going on in your head as the Team Leader and you are very busy.
The flight to Harris was about 60 minutes and as we neared the last known position we were picking up the aircraft beacons in the helicopter which meant the aircraft in trouble and had possibly crashed. Due to the remoteness of the area I spoke to my control the ARCC and asked for the rest of the RAF Kinloss team to be sent immediately to assist.
As we neared the area the noise from the beacons was intense and we feared the worst. The crash had occurred near the village of Northton on a small hill called Maodal about 800 Feet above the sea. The only cloud in the whole of Scotland was over the crash site and the helicopter dropped us as near as they could to the incident.
It was like the scene from a horrific battlefield, a tangled mess of a once proud aircraft and the casualties,all fatal scattered around. These memories that still haunt me to this day. At times like these even in the middle of such carnage the Mountain Rescue Team has a job to do and we are all as professional, most of us had seen these sights before.
A few shocked locals had managed to get to the crash and were relieved to see us and leave the horror of such a place. There was very little chance of any survivors.
Our first task is to ensure that all the casualties are accounted for and then to secure the crash site. All the fatalities have to be left in place as there will be Police and a Crash Investigation Team on scene as soon as possible. Our next task is to secure the site which was still very dangerous and ensure there were no classified materials about.
It was grim work but most of my team on the helicopter were veterans of such scenes.
I had been heavily involved with the Lockerbie Disaster, we did what we had to do. Once things were organised at the scene I walked back down to the road about half a mile from the scene. It was surreal already the locals had put a small caravan in a lay-by and the ladies had a welcome cup of tea for us. They were wonderful people with typical Highland hospitality and care, which my team would need later on. They were incredible to my team and helped in the difficult days that we had ahead. I still owe them so much.
By now The cloud had cleared and I saw that this was one of the most sad but beautiful places in Scotland. The local Police were on scene along with the Coastguards and the site was secured awaiting the Board of Enquiry, no casualties could be moved until the Police and the Procurator Fiscal arrived. My team guarded the scene and took photos and mapped the site out, standard procedures for an aircraft incident. The aircraft was guarded through the night and all night the local people were so helpful to us all.
The majority of the team who were still at Kinloss were flown to Stornoway by a Jetstream aircraft and by Hercules aircraft complete with our Mountain Rescue vehicles, they were all on scene by 1600, an amazing piece of organisation. In the end I had 27 Team members, the 4 Tonner vehicles’ arrived by Ferry the same day!
Once the site had been visited later on by the Board of Enquiry the team received permission to remove all the casualties from the scene, a hard and difficult task. These are words that do not express what horror there is in such a place, yet all the team worked hard. The 10 fatalities was a hard job to do and move away from the scene. These were in the early days of PTSD and few in power will ever realise the effect a tragedy like this has on those who carried out this task. We were accommodated in the Harris Hotel in Tarbet if not up at the crash scene and they looked after us so well.
After 3 days on scene we handed over the crash site to an RAF Lossiemouth crash guard who were there for several weeks working with the investigation board.
Most of the team and vehicles’ flew out that day from Harris in a Hercules aircraft ahead of all the casualties who were in another aircraft.
This was a day I would never forget. We flew into Lossiemouth and drove through the camp for the short journey to Kinloss. The whole camp at Lossiemouth lined up as we drove through a very moving experience, waiting for their fallen comrades. It is still as clear as day in my eyes.
I will never forget that experience and then we had to go home to our families. Few spoke of what they had seen and done. It was our job.
A few years later I revisited the crash site in Harris. The drive down was in driving rain but as we got nearer to Tarbet the weather cleared to bright sunshine and the hills had a smattering of snow. As we got nearer to the site the sun, blue seas, surf and clear sandy beaches made this a sad but beautiful place to be. Though the hill is only small by mountaineering standards, it’sfairly steep as it starts from sea-level. Memories came flashing back of the accident and even the superb beauty of this special place made it a difficult wee walk.
Nature has as usual sorted things out and the scars on the hill are covered by heather and peat, occasional bits of wire and small pieces of metal remain of a fairly large aircraft.
The memorial on the top commemorates the crew of the Shackelton “Dylan” and details of the aircraft with the words”We Will Never Forget” inscribed on a memorial on the summit.
It faces West the inscription is getting the worse of the weather and may need replaced within the next few years. I have been back fairly often it is another part of my life that few understand. The views from the hill are very healing with the wildness of the area that makes this place so special and a place we should never forget.
This is what I wrote on my last visit. “On the summit the views were immense, unsurpassed with unique Island scenery of wild open stunning beaches, mountains and the sea and the fresh snow enhancing everything.
After spending some time on the top, with the wind it was fairly cold, we left that beautiful, though sad place, with a wee prayer for the crew and wondering how many people know of this place?”
I will never forget what happened that day and how tragic the crash site was even to hardened mountain rescue men. The RAF Mountain Rescue Team carries out a complex job at times but I am proud of what my team did over these few days. I will never forget the wonderful help we received from the Police, Coastguards local Doctor and these magnificent people from North Harris who treated us so wellover a terribly difficult 3 days.
Thanks to all, from all of us.
Footnote;
It should be noted that the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team has been at least two other Shackelton Crashes in their role in RAF Mountain Rescue. The first was on the 21 December 1967 when a Shackelton crashed at Locailort near Fortwilliam killing all 13 of the crew. The team were involved in the recovery all over the Festive period until the 8 January. I met the son of the navigator of this aircraft who came to visit RAF Kinloss in 2007, 40 years after his father died, a very moving day for me. I took him and his wife around the Rescue Centre the ARCC where I was on shift. From here we went to the Mountain Rescue Section at Kinloss and tried to answer all his questions, which he wanted answers for many years. In addition the team were also involved in the Shackelton Crash at the south end of the Mull of Kintyre killing all 11 of the crew on the 19 April 1968, the RAF Kinloss team were there till the 23 April. All these terrible incidents make a huge impression on the RAF Mountain Rescue Teams and the team members and are never forgotten by those who were involved.
“Lest We Forget”
David Heavy Whalley MBE BEM
In memory of Shackleton crew Dylan who perished in the crash.
Wing Commander Stephen Roncoroni
Wing Commander Chas Wrighton
Flying Officer Colin Burns
Squadron Leader Jerry Lane
Flight Lieutenant Al Campbell
Flight Lieutenant Keith Forbes
Master Air Electronics Operator Roger Scutt
Flight Sergeant Rick Ricketts
Sergeant Graham Miller
Corporal Stuart Bolton
Today 23 Sept 2020 I will pay my respects by walking up to the memorial with Kalie the forecast is good so it should be a memorable day. I was supposed to come over for the 30 th Anniversary in April this year but Covid sadly stopped it. Today I will remember the crew and all those involved in the recovery .
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