Grumman Avenger Mk.I FN821 / 4K of No.848 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy,
crashed on Trum y Fawnog near Llangynog on the 3rd February 1944

William Seddon Appleby	Sub Lieutenant, RNZNVR	Pilot	Killed
Ernest Hartley Green	Sub Lieutenant (A), RNVR	Passenger (Pilot)	Killed
Joe Lupton	Sub Lieutenant (A), RNVR	Observer	Killed

 

The aircraft is reported to have been on a transit flight from Gosport to Kirkwall via Machrihanish at the time of its loss. The pilot, Sub Lieutenant Appleby, was assigned to HMS Landrail at Machrihanish while the other two crew were assigned to HMS Robin at Kirkwall.

While over the southern most end of the Berwyn mountains near the village of Llangynog the aircraft dived out of a snow shower into open moorland at Cerrig Trwsgl on the eastern end of the Trum y Fawnog where it exploded killing the three crew members, leaving a large crater on the hilltop and wreckage scattered over a wide area.

Following a recovery operation the three crew were buried at various locations across the country, the aircraft’s pilot was buried at Oswestry, Sub Lt Green was buried in Cardiff while Sub Lt Lupton was buried at Morley near Leeds.

Until the 1980s the site remained on open moorland but the hill was planted with conifers resulting in the crash site being within a forestry plantation. The water filled crater which was photographed in the 80s is still present, though much of the wreckage which was in the crater has been removed from it and left in piles around its perimeter.