de Havilland Mosquito T. Mk.III TV982 of No.502 (Ulster) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, crashed in Cwm Llan on the southern side of Snowdon on the 31st July 1948

 

 

Josiah Campbell	Pilot 2	Pilot	Killed
Charles Edward Walker	Corporal	Passenger	Killed

 

For two weeks during July 1948 No.502 Squadron was on detachment to RAF Horsham St Faith near Norwich for their annual Armament Practice Camp. The exercises had finished at the end of July with the Squadron members returning to RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland. The Squadron’s aircraft were flown back on the 31st July and 1st August with ground crews following on by rail and sea on the 2nd arriving back the following day.

PII Campbell was tasked with the ferry flight from Horsham St Faith to Aldergrove, he had one of the ground crew along as a passenger, he had not gone over land as he was returning to Northern Ireland in a hurry due to his wife having just given birth.

Part way into the flight the Mosquito entered a Cumulonimbus clouds over Snowdonia, while to the south west of the Snowdon the turbulence became severe enough to cause loss of control and eventual structural failure of the aircraft. It then crashed onto a rock outcrop at high speed in Cwm Llan and was completely wrecked killing both the pilot and his passenger.