General Dynamics F-111E 68-0003 of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing crashed on Craignaw, Glen Trool near Newton Stewart on the 19th December 1979

 

Richard Alfred Hetzner Captain Pilot Killed
Raymond Charles Spaulding Captain WSO / Navigator Killed

 

The crew were on a training flight from Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire when the aircraft flew into a rocky outcrop on the south western side of Craignaw above Loch Neldricken in the Galloway hills at high speed and was completely destroyed.

Memorial overlooking the crash site of General Dynamics F-111E 68-0003 on Craignaw, Glen Trool near Newton Stewart
Overlooking the crash site (below and the right of this photo) it this cairn with a memorial plaque, and also the largest remaining item of wreckage.
Memorial overlooking the crash site of General Dynamics F-111E 68-0003 on Craignaw, Glen Trool near Newton Stewart
A closer view of the plaque.
Scar in the rock outcrop where F-111E 68-0003 crashed on Craignaw near Newton Stewart
Looking from the cairn the crash site is this obvious scar blasted into the outcrops.
Impact point of F-111E 68-0003 on Craignaw, Newton Stewart
Stood in the impact scar, small fragments of the aircraft a visible towards the bottom of the photograph.
Small fragments of wreckage at the crash site of F-111E 68-0003 on Craignaw, Glen Trool
Small fragments of metal litter the area around the impact point.
View of the crash site of F-111E 68-0003 on Craignaw, Glen Trool
Looking back up hill into the scar, from here is blends fairly well with the other outcrops.