Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV Z7356 of No.526 Squadron, RAF, crashed on Braeriach in the Caringorm Mountains on the 22nd March 1945

Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV

 

Charles Henry Fletcher Warrant Officer Pilot Killed
John Eric Shaw Flying Officer Navigator Killed
Stanley Charles Gale Flying Officer Wireless Operator Killed
John Michie Corporal Passenger Killed
Adam Veitch Bryce Leading Aircraftman Passenger Killed
Angus McIntosh Fulton Leading Aircraftman Passenger Killed

 

On the 22nd March 1945 Blenheim Z7356 of No.526 Squadron left RAF Digby in Lincolnshire with a crew of three and three passengers bound for Longman airfield on the edge of Inverness. When the aircraft failed to arrive a search began for the missing crew. The following morning three Blenheims and one Oxford from the squadron flew searches from Inverness, with that being repeated on the 24th as well. It was at some point after this when the wreckage of the aircraft was discovered high on Braeriach on the Aberdeenshire/Inverness-shire boundary.

The aircraft had been descending through cloud when it struck very steep ground on the eastern flank of the mountain above the Lairig Ghru breaking up across the slope and into the bealach between Braeriach and Sron na Lairige. Wreckage was scattered down the slope into the Lairig Ghru and also into Coire Beanaidh, where 18 months previously the wreckage of Oxford HM724 had been disposed of.

The six crew and passengers were recovered from the crash site and were later buried at various locations throughout the country.