Hawker Sea Hawk F.B. Mk.3 WM986 of No.736 Sqn, Royal Navy, dived into the ground on moorland South East of Drynachan Lodge on the 5th May 1959
| Martin Arnold Sanders | Midshipman | Pilot | Killed |
On the 5th May 1959 twenty year old Midshipman Sanders, a trainee naval pilot from Brentford in west London, took off from RNAS Lossiemouth for a training flight in WM986. A short time later John Linnie, a shepherd, was sheltering from heavy rain in a bothy on the moorland south east of Drynachan Lodge heard the sound of the aircraft approaching very quickly followed immediately by a loud bang. He went outside to see wreckage falling close to the bothy and smoke rising from the ground in the area where before going to shelter from the rain he had been bringing in sheep from. Mr Linnie them made his way across the boggy ground towards the smoke finding only wreckage and the remains of a parachute. With it being obvious that there was no survivor he then started the walk back towards Drynachan to report the crash. Once the crash was reported he, along with other estate workers escorted local Police officers to the scene in a Land Rover, and on foot. A helicopter was despatched from Lossiemouth and this made its way to the crash site to collect the body of Msm Sanders.
The Mountain Rescue Team from RAF Kinloss was also asked to head to the site but were stood down on arriving at Drynachan Lodge as by then the Navy had reported recovering Sanders’s body from the site.
