The mystery of the lost Lancaster

[BlackPanther]

We had long been hoping to visit this particular crash site since our research showed that there was a large amount of wreckage hidden in peat hags on the slopes of Carn Icean Duibhe. The site is located high on the Monadhliath, on a peat-hag ridden slope in the middle of nowhere, but the estate tracks around upper River Findhorn make access much easier. Indeed, the WH circular walk of upper Findhorn moors would take you only 3km away from the place of the crash. Because winter this year was so white, we had to wait until late spring to be sure that all the snow from the deep hags had melted otherwise there would be no point trying to find the remains of Avro Lancaster B. Mk.I PD259.

The morning was glorious and under any other circumstances we'd be going up a Munro or a remote Corbett, but my arm was swollen and sore from getting vaccinated the day before, so Kevin decided it would be safer for me on easy, rolling slopes of the Monadhliath plateau. I was actually feeling OK apart from the arm ache but I appreciated his care and attention (so much that I moved all heavy pieces of hillwalking kit to his rucksack ).

We started from the parking area at the end of the public road up Strathdearn, there was already a campervan and a couple of cars parked when we arrived, but we saw nobody up on the moors. Of course, nobody is insane enough to go peat-hag diving for some scrap metal photography
Our route followed a good estate track over Carn Mor and Carn Easgain Mor. We had done the full circular route of Findhorn moor before so we knew the track was good and it would take us very close to the summit of Carn Icean Duibhe. The rest was a matter of careful search:

Track_FINDHORN CRASH 28.4KM.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

We walked a short distance back along the tarmac to the bridge over River Findhorn:

My rucksack is light as a feather, I could get vaccinated every weekend!

Ruined cottage on the banks of Allt Fionndairnich:

Too late for Grand Designs...

The track makes for easy walking up the slopes of Carn Mor:

High cloud was forecast for later in the afternoon so Kevin took some photos of the surrounding rolling landscape as long as we had good light. Below, a pano shot of Sith Mor and Carn Coire Easgrabath:

Looking back at the track on the upper moors:

Once up on the height of 650-700m, it was still a long and winding road to Carn Icean Duibhe:

The last remnants of winter snow in the shape of a cave:

Checking the stability of snow

The upper glen of Allt Deamhaidh from the spot where we left the track:

We expected hard terrain with deep peat hags from the very fist step off-piste, but surprisingly, the ground, though bumpy and peat-haggy, wasn't too difficult and we managed to walk in a straight line (more or less) to the summit of Carn Icean Duibhe, where we took a short break for refreshments. The top has no cairn but we found a large rock marking the summit:

Views from Carn Icean Duibhe are not breathtaking to be honest but we could see the outline of the Cairngorms, with snow still present at the time:

The "backside" of Càrn Sgulain and A'Chailleach, two of the three Monadhliath Munros:

After a short rest on the summit, we continued to the crash site. As in most cases, a six-digit grid ref helped us locate the general area, but the terrain on the south-western side of Carn Icean Duibhe is a labyrinth of hags and boggy puddles so finding the exact spot proved... a bit complicated:

Lancaster, Lancaster, where are you?

The moorland might look flat and dry in photos but on close inspection it is wet and full of holes. Looking down to the area just below the spot our GPS took us to:

Can you see anything?

We walked up and down, checking every peat hag but couldn't see anything for a while. I was beginning to think that the grid ref we had was wrong, when suddenly, I almost tripped over something white and suspiciously not-natural:

The first piece we spotted

From that moment, we started finding debris nearly every step we took. There was so much that at some point we gave up on photographing the small bits, only took pictures of the more interesting stuff.
I wasn't surprised to see large amount of wreckage. Avro Lancaster bomber was a large, four-engine plane with the wingspan of over 100 feet (31m). It could take the largest bombs used by the RAF, including the so-called "blockbusters", weighing up to 12000 lb (5400 kg) blockbusters. With the cruise speed of 200 mph (320 km/h) and the range of 2530 miles (4070 km), the "Lanc" was one of the most popular WW2 aircraft, the true queen of the skies. During the WW2 Great britain produced 7377 Lancasters at a cost of £45000 each. Typically, the crew comprised of 7 members: pilot, flight engineer, navigator, bombardier/nose gunner, wireless operator as well as mid-upper and rear gunners. This particular Lancaster, PD 259 coded JO-G, was on a cross country training exercise when it crashed into the slopes of Carn Icean Duibhe.

Drive tracks for the gun turret, found on the edge of the wreckage field

I found the detailed description of the he story of Jo-G in "Hell on High ground", in the chapter titled "Mystery of the Monadhliath Bomber". It is true that the exact circumstances of this accident have never been explained but looking at the scattered wreckage we can safely assume that the plane must have broken up in the air above the peat-hag ridden moorland...
Kevin searching for more Lancaster parts in the hags:

Possibly part of the wing:

Whilst I was busy tracing the trail of small pieces, Kevin went further down the slope and soon I heard his voice shouting: WOW! There's more down here!
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 086 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
He located the first of several large piles of debris, this one associated with one of the engines (Rolls Royce Merlin). Quite often, we find bits of engines on crash sites, if they haven't been taken off the hill shortly after the accident (usually to recycle for parts or for scrap metal). This one was really impressive as we could still recognize different elements of the mechanism. My knowledge of engines in general and the aircraft ones in particular, is limited so here I relied mostly on Kevin's suggestions (well, his experience is mostly with car/van engines but he still knows much more than I do). He had a good look at the mangled wreckage and pointed at several parts, describing them and telling me how they fit each other. I was just gawking with an open mouth, eventually asking something like "And what is this round thingie with two holes for?"
Kevin at the gully with the engine debris:

The main shaft from the engine and propeller hub:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 089 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Zoom to the propeller hub and piston rods:

The cylinder block from the engine, with a single exhaust stub still attached:

Next to the broken up engine lies a part of the wing flap:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 095 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Squashed radiator:

Corroded fragments of a frame, perhaps from the engine bearer:

Sometimes the tiny fragments are just as fascinating as the bigger chunks of wreckage. This little metal piece still has a number on it:

A couple more photos of the engine:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 113 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 529 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Just below the gully with the engine parts, we located another collection of wreckage, including this section of wing with hinge pins for the flap:

This black and green-painted aluminum panel likely comes from the underside of the plane:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 139 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
The piece I'm photographing in the picture above is the gear box from one of the engines:

Another wing flap:

We moved slowly downhill from the engine gully, finding more and more pieces, mostly unidentifiable...

Many parts were half-buried in the mud at the bottom of the countless peat hags. I wonder how much more is completely hidden from view after decades of sinking into the soggy ground?...

I bet you are now wondering what happened here?

It was Wednesday, the 31st of August 1944 when PD259 took off from RAF base in Waddington (Lincolnshire) to carry out a cross country navigation exercise. The plane was nearly new, having only joined the 467 Squadron three weeks earlier and had only 57 flying hours under its belt. The crew was also new: all were Australians apart from the RAF flight engineer. They had been briefed to get some navigational practice before joining the operational flights.
You can find the names of the crew and more useful info on Peak District Air Accident Research site.
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 180 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
The exact take off time is not known but the plane arrived over central Scotland at around midnight, flying at an altitude of 22000 feet. Weather conditions were variable, with heavy cloud expected from around 1000ft up to 20000ft and locally to 25000ft where the clouds were cumulonimbus, also "squally showers" were to be expected. Here is a paragraph from "Hell on high ground" describing the circumstances of the crash:
"The rugged Monadhliath Mountains (...) boast no fewer than 14 summits over 2000 feet and 3 at 3000 feet. This is a very hostile land and very featureless in parts, though one of its dominant features would soon be that of an aircraft wreck, that of Lancaster JO-G. According to some sources, whilst overflying this rugged terrain, possibly having suffered some form of structural failure, the aircraft broke up in mid-air and was scattered across a wide area. All on board perished in the accident and as their aircraft lay scattered across the mountain it lay undetected until the following day."
The only witnesses to the tragedy would have been local wildlife...

It was speculated that the Lancaster must have entered a steep descent during which the pilot attempted to recover the aircraft but the stresses on the air frame induced by the attempt to pull out of a high speed dive resulted in the plane breaking apart in the air. This was not the only Lancaster known to have meet such fate.

Another interesting fact is that a partially open parachute was found near the crash scene, presumably belonging to the Lancaster's navigator. Did he try to bail out but didn't have enough time? We will never know for sure.
All seven bodies were recovered shortly after the crash. Back then, the tracks on the upper moorland didn't exist so I admire the recovery team (from No.19 OTU at RAF Kinloss) attempting to reach the crash site. It would have been a long hike across the land of hags and moor to the spot where the wreckage lay.

Fuselage panel from JO-G

The wreckage remained undisturbed in the remote location for decades after the crash, but in 2008 and 2010 a team from RAF Waddington carried out an extensive recovery with the assistance of RAF. Several substantial parts of the Lancaster were recovered and taken back to Waddington. These items included one of the original landing wheels, a propeller and one of the bomb bay doors. The propeller has since been installed in the "Phantom of the Ruhr", the only remaining airworthy Lancaster in Europe. A single blade from the propeller was used as a memorial to the Australian airmen who perished in the crash and all the other RAAF men killed in the Second World War. This memorial was unveiled on the 64th anniversary of the crash in the private graveyard on Balavil Estate where anyone can pay their respects.
Photos of the parts recovered and the memorial can be found HERE.

One of many smaller piles of wreckage

Kevin said half-jokingly that considering the amount of remains, we could probably rebuild the whole Lancaster if we wanted.
Indeed, somebody has already thought about it. Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre has a partially-reconstructed "Lanc" called Our Beautiful Babe. THIS LINK offers a virtual tour of the bomber, including the inside of the cockpit. Well worth a look, gives a good idea how the crew must have felt inside the plane!
Back to our aircraft, JO-G, she was only involved in 6 operational missions before crashing, all flown from RAF Waddington. Her first mission was to Gilze Rijen (Luftwaffe night fighter airfield in the Netherlands) on the night of 15 August 1944. The last one was only on the night before her demise, to Koningsberg in East Prussia.
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 215 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
We located some parts of the second engine in one of the large peat hags well below the first engine gully:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 227 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
We couldn't find the main shaft of the engine but located the carburetor, well preserved and lying in the grass and heather on the edge of a peat hag:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 244 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Seen from above:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 238 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
We were already overwhelmed by the number of pieces we found but this was just the beginning! We looked back up the slope an yep! we saw another large collection:

As we moved slowly back uphill, we encountered several more peat hags filled with debris, it was never ending!

Kevin has a good eye for spotting interesting details like this set of numbers:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 642 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
A larger chunk of the fuselage from the main body of the plane:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 261 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Some collections comprised of badly smashed material...
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 269 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr.
...but many parts were still recognizable like this section of bomb bay:

I was particularly interested in one little detail of this section of the fuselage:

Zoom to the part, I wonder what it could be, a control box of some sort?
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 708 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
We were not the only visitors to this site today although I doubt that the other guest was interested in aircraft history

A lizard taking the afternoon siesta

One more mangled wing flap:

Fuel tank:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 727 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
There was much more but I must keep this TR reasonable, it is far too long already! And I still have the best pieces to show you...
We reached the large pile we spotted from below. This was most likely the spot where the main part of the plane hit the ground; in a large crater we found loads of wreckage. Another 20 minutes we spent mostly on all fours, trying to photograph as much as we could.
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 732 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Undercarriage assembly sticking out of the ground:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 734 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
This metal frame is the engine bearer, likely from one of the two inboard engines:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 745 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Half-submerged in the muddy soil at the bottom of the crater, this single propeller may still be attached to the hub buried in the ground:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 454 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 748 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
I was surprised to see a modern tool dropped in the middle of the debris field. Kevin said "Here lies the graverobber's shovel".
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 741 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
More debris from the impact zone:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 749 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
A pile of oxygen bottles and a length of spar:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 761 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
Another set of hinge pins for the flap:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 776 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
More photos of the debris field from different angles:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 376 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 432 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr
By now it was 3pm and we had spent nearly two hours examining the crash site. We didn't move or overturn any wreckage, just documented what we found. Before leaving, a minute of silence for the 7 young men who lost their lives here.
...
On the way back home, we noticed that weather had improved again and the sun was now shining nicely. My arm was still aching slightly but I just ignored it. I was so glad I had no other side effects of the vaccine. We discussed plans for the following day and agreed, it was time to stop chasing long lost planes and visit a Munro or two!
Upper Strathdearn in the afternoon sunshine:
2021-05-28 findhorn crash 465 by Kevin Dalziel, on Flickr

My next report will be about a less used route up a popular Munro in the Fannichs. We had planned it earlier in the year but never got around to it, so it was a good moment to return to serious hillwalking. TR to come soon.

Bibliography
Internet sources:
https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/avro-lancaster-pd259-carn-icean-duibhe/
http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/Monadhliath.html
http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/CC19b/PD259.html
https://heavywhalley.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/july-1944-wellington-crash-in-the-mondaliaths-and-the-very-early-days-of-raf-kinloss-mountain-rescue/
https://her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG30836
https://www.croftcarnoch.co.uk/post/2019/08/26/lancaster-bomber-crash-75th-anniversary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster
https://historyview.org/library/lancaster-bomber-our-beautiful-babe/

Books:
1. Hell on High Ground, Vol. 2: World War II Air Crash Sites. (1999)
by David William Earl
2. Aircraft Wrecks: The Walker's Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors and Mountains of the British Isles. (2009)
by Nick Wotherspoon, Alan Clark and Mark Sheldon
3. Wrecks & Relics: 27th edition: The Indispensable Guide to Britain's Aviation Heritage (2020)
by Ken Ellis

[gaffr]

Hello, From viewing on this site I realise that you take a great interest in tracking down remains of downed aircraft.
On this one, that he calls the Balavil Lancaster, I have six pages of a report made by a young man who used to live on Balavil. If you want to look at these pages I could have them sent.
Having written this I see that Antony Sherlock's report appears, in part, of the Croft Carnoch item.