The Triple Buttress on Beinn Eighe
The tragedy took place just as the mountain, Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross, came to be Britain’s first national nature reserve. It happened in the early hours of 14 March 1951 when a Lancaster bomber from RAF Kinloss crashed near the summit of Beinn Eighe, killing all eight crew members.
The wreckage came to land in what is still known today as “Fuselage Gully” and due to the harsh conditions it took days to get to the wreckage, and months to recover all the bodies.
The lessons learned from the recovery resulted in major improvements to the training and equipping of RAF Mountain rescue teams, who have been responsible, along with civilian teams, for saving many lives among the Scottish mountains.
It is for this reason that the event is etched in the collective memory of the RAF mountain rescue service.
Peter McGowan, a former RAF Kinloss team leader said: “It is important to remember the victims of this tragic crash and the dramatic effect this had on the development of the RAF Kinloss rescue team. Back then, the team was just in its infancy, but the Lancaster tragedy was key to it becoming the highly equipped and trained unit it is today.”
The crash happened just as Beinn Eighe was bought for the nation by the Nature Conservancy. Later that year Beinn Eighe was declared Britain’s first national nature reserve and this year it celebrates its 60th anniversary.
There is a long history of involvement of SNH staff within the local mountain rescue team and current reserve manager, Eoghain Maclean, is leader of the Torridon and Kinlochewe Mountain Rescue Team.
“Beinn Eighe is a very special place, and as a national nature reserve attracts thousands of visitors every year. Most of the people who visit the reserve will not be aware of this sad but important story and it is fitting that we can pay our respects to the airmen who died,” he said.
The stunning sandstone and quartzite mountains in which the crew met their untimely deaths are also home to some of Europe’s most precious wildlife. Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve is managed for the nation by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).