Fairey Battle Mk.I K7589 of No.226 Sqn, RAF, crashed on Pumlumon Cwmbiga on the 6th October 1938

Fairey Battle Mk.I at the Royal Air Force Museum

 

Alistair Lilburn MacEwan Pilot Officer Pilot Killed
Frank James Corporal ? Killed
Kenneth Adrian Clark Aircraftman 1st Class Wireless Operator Killed

The crew were on a cross country flight from Harwell to Bardsey Island and back when they entered poor weather over mid-Wales. To the west of Llanidloes P/O MacEwan lost control of the aircraft and it entered a dive which it had not been recovered from when it struck the eastern side of Pumlunom Cwmbiga, an outlier of Plynlimon, killing the three crew.

Wreckage at the crash site of Fairey Battle K7589 on Pumlumon Cwmbiga, Hafren Forest, Powys
At the time of the crash the area was open hillside but in the decades which followed it was forested and felled leaving terrain which is very hard to search. However a few small pieces of the aircraft were found at the crash site.
Wreckage at the crash site of Fairey Battle K7589 on Pumlumon Cwmbiga, Hafren Forest, Powys
A small piece found on some of the remnants of the felled trees.
Wreckage at the crash site of Fairey Battle K7589 on Pumlumon Cwmbiga, Hafren Forest, Powys
The largest piece of the aircraft we found was this strut in a gully near the crash site.
Crash site of Fairey Battle K7589 on Pumlumon Cwmbiga, Hafren Forest, Powys
A general view of the area of cleared forestry land where the aircraft crashe