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It's been 7 years since
our first visit to Ben Loyal and we felt it was due a second climb. The day's forecast looked good but only for the north - going anywhere south of Inverness would be risky due to thunderstorms. As we have very few new hills left in the northern half of the Highlands, we were happy to end our holidays with a repeat, especially that we could combine it with a visit to another plane crash site.
I remembered vaguely from our previous visit here, I spotted some aircraft parts from the distance when descending. Quoting myself from 2012
"We walked past the remains of the Handley-Page Hampden bomber which crashed here in the summer of 1943. " Back then, we were not into investigating crash sites, so didn't really have a closer look at the debris. Now it was time to find out more about this particular story...
The crash site is located on the northern side of Ben Loyal, precisely on the northern slopes of its N top, Sgor Chaonasaid. According to "The aircraft wrecks" book, the grid reference is NC 583498, height 1.600 feet. We found out that the remains are well scattered on the wide, steep sloes and we definitely didn't find everything, but to our excuse, the ground was badly overgrown by high grass, so it was difficult to spot anything from the distance.
There are several possible routes to Ben Loyal, different options if you want to include the outlying tops, but we almost copied our previous route mainly because it passes by the crash site. On the way down, instead of a circular, we returned the same way, again, to look for more debris. One day we will return here to try Ben Loyal from the east, from Loch Loyal (that side looks interesting), but on this occasion, we started from the usual spot, the car park near Ribigill. We were the only ones climbing this Corbett today:
The mountain presents its best features from this side:
The track was good to begin with, but the final 200 or so meters before the crossing of Allt Lon Malmsgaig turned out to be a bog-hopping adventure
At least the ford didn't present a problem... Ben Hiel in the background:
The ruined building of Cunside:
The path continues past the crossing, aiming steadily uphill. It's muddy in some places, in other spots overgrown with bracken. Beware of ticks!
We were surprised by the vast numbers of magpie moths fluttering around. They are such beautiful, colorful creatures. They find heather leaves very tasty, so no wonder they enjoy the Scottish moors so much
Kevin spent far too much time photographing the moths, but my attention was drawn to the distinctive, castle-like shape of Sgor Chaonasaid:
Ben Hope to the west:
We continued on the path and at the height of roughly 300m we spotted the first plane debris. I had a recollection of seeing a few bits of metal in a tiny lochan during our previous visit. Now, the lochan was gone, dried out after a sunny spell of weather, but the plane parts were still in the same position:
The book (Aircraft Wrecks: The Walker's Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors and Mountains of the British Isles by Nick Wotherspoon, Alan Clark and Mark Sheldon) mentions that
"in a boggy hollow are two fuel tanks and further airframe wreckage" so this must be it:
Also "
at NC586502 is a section of framework from the centre section of the aircraft and an engine cowling ring". We saw some more debris from the distance but as we were slightly above it, we decided to investigate it later on the descent rather than zigzaging up and down like a pair of mad magpie moths
We left the path (which becomes less obvious higher up anyway) and charged up the steeper section, looking around and spying more plane parts. As I mentioned earlier, it was hard to spot anything in the high vegetation...
...but we located several metal parts, too mangled to guess what they were:
The tale of this lost plane is just as heartbreaking as every wartime crash story...
It was 25th August 1943. From Wick airport, a Handley-Page Hampden bomber No. P5334 took off at 9:35. It was a part of RAF Coastal Commands 519 Squadron 1406 which conducted meteorological flights, measuring climatic conditions over a large area from northern Scotland to Iceland, Norway and Faroe Islands. The average flight took 7 hours, but this particular plane sadly never returned to the base. At 13.25 a message was sent to Sullom Voe, in the Shetlands - the plane had engine problems. This was followed at 13:38 by an SOS signal and then, silence...
Within several hours, a search party was sent out in the shape of another Hampden bomber, No.P2118. The crew knew what to do without asking questions - they were to look for any sign of the missing P5334 and it's crew. They were on the rescue mission!
The rescue plane was flown by 519 Squadron Commander Flight Lieutenant H R Puplett, also on board were Flying Officer Ritchie (navigator), Flying Officer Faulks and Sergeant Hudson-Ball (observers).
The four boys did their job. For nearly hours, they kept searching. Even when the sun began to set, they knew they had to keep looking as long as there was hope...
But in the late evening, the weather has turned for worse. The plane turned back towards Wick but about midnight, they met a lightning storm. One of the observers, Flying Officer Faulks was on the radio but the storm interfered with the transmissions. Suddenly, a flash of light blinded him and he was knocked unconscious... He didn't even have time to think, what's happened? A lightning struck?
It was 23:59, exactly one minute to midnight. The bomber was flying over Tongue, only 50 miles away from their home base at Wick. But it was here, on the steep slopes of Ben Loyal, where the Hampden's journey ended. At the speed of 150mph, the plane hit the mountainside. Three crew members died on impact and the fuselage caught fire.
Flying Officer Faulks was the only survivor. Somehow, in a strike of luck, he was thrown clear from the wreckage, landing on the soft vegetation. When he woke up, he saw the parts of the plane burning around him, so he started to crawl away. There must have been a lot of determination in him - he sustained several bad injuries, including a broken leg, a smashed foot and severe facial injuries. But he fought for his life, he crawled behind a boulder and hid there from the fire.
For the next six hour, he just waited and suffered in silence. Did anybody see the crash? How long it will take to organize a search and rescue from Wick? What are his chances?...
But then, he heard voices. Soon, a few friendly faces surrounded him. How come they found him so quickly? Oh, it was a rescue party from the nearby farm at Ribigill! The group was led by a shepherd, Mr E Campbell. By one more lucky coincidence, a local doctor was also present. Dr F Y McHendrick quickly gave the wounded man a shot of morphine and treated his injuries aw well as he could in such circumstances.
But one more problem remained: how to take the injured man of the hill? The men from the rescue party had a look around and picked a piece of wreckage to use as DIY stretchers. Officer Faulks was then carried down the slope, where a horse-driven cart awaited to take him to the nearest village. The journey continued in an RAF ambulance for another 40 miles, to Golspie’s Lawson County Hospital. In the hospital, the doctors were rather pessimistic about the patient's chance to survive, but FO Faulks was a fighter! He recovered after 18 months spent in hospital and even rejoined his squadron to fly again before the war ended. One tough cookie! He went on to live a long and happy life
The two men who led the rescue part, shepherd E Campbell and Dr McHendrick were both awarded the British Empire Medal for their rescue efforts. The group walked up and down the hill six times, bringing down not only the injured man, but also the bodies of the three remaining crew members. Two of the lost men are buried in Wick cemetery, the third one in Chislehurst cemetery in Kent.
Another sad story but with a pinch of optimism at the end. At least someone survived this horrible event. As a post scriptum I must add, that sadly, the Hampden bomber they were looking for was never found, presumed lost at sea. The fate of these two planes will always be entwined and standing next to the remains of Hampden P2118, we dedicated a minute of silence to both crews.
Thank you, boys.
Later on the way down, we came across more parts of the plane:
A part of fuselage framework:
The aforementioned engine cowling ring:
I'm sure there is more of it scattered all over the place, but we struggled to see it in the high grass and heather, besides, we also had a second fish to fry: climb the summit!
It's about 250m of steep ascent to the northern top of Ben Loyal, but the effort is soon rewarded with fantastic views!
Panther sniffed rocks to pose on
We visited Sgor Chaonasaid first (the summit of Loyal in the background):
View east past the crags of Sgor Chaonasaid to Loch Loyal and the distant hills of Caithness:
A little pano of the main ridge of Ben Loyal:
View west to Ben Hope:
North-west to Kyle of Tongue:
Zoom to Beinn Griam Mor and Beg, and more distant Morven/Scaraben group:
The rocky outcrops of Sgor Chaonasaid are fascinating:
We found a sheltered spot amongst the rocks and sat down for a well deserved cuppa. Later, we traversed the easy ground to the summit of Ben Loyal. The wind picked up and I was a bit concerned about a possible storm, but despite the cloud coming in, no storm ever materialized. We were lucky.
Me and Lucy on the summit of Ben Loyal, Ben Hope in the background:
The water world of countless lochs and lochans to the south of Ben Loyal:
The previous time we visited the southern top, Beinn Bheag, but this time we didn't bother, as it was getting late:
Kevin on the summit:
Looking NE from the summit:
We returned the same way, searching the ground and photographing several more plane parts as we descended. About half way down we met a walker heading up, the only person we saw on the hill the whole day. I was actually surprised to find Ben Loyal so deserted, as it was Saturday and a relatively good weather. But maybe it worked for the better, as we didn't have to explain to anybody why we were circling round the steep slope bent in half
The last glimpse back on Ben Loyal:
Regardless of the plane debris, this hill is a cracker and well deserves to be visited in good conditions, to truly appreciate the beauty of the surrounding landscape as well as the weird rock shapes on the ridge itself.
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There is one more story left to tell about our July holidays, a final report regarding a very obscure Graham, which we climbed by the less popular route. TR to come soon.
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List of sites with info about the Hampden crash site:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/47/a2844047.shtmlhttp://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/scotland/p2118.htmlhttp://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/Ben%20Loyal.html