Monument record MHG30839 - Aircraft crash site, Beinn Edra

A B-17 aircraft crashed on March 3rd, 1945. No further details surrounding the circumstances of the crash. Serial No. 44-83325. Sqd. None assigned.

Information supplied by Alan Clark, 11/04/02.
Macclesfield Aviation Group, a member of the British Aviation Archaeological Council.
J Aitken : 15/04/02.

More details about this aircraft and the crash site can be found on the Air Crash Sites Scotland web site (see link). This was a B-17G aircraft which was enroute from the USA to Italy via Iceland and the UK. The accident occurred due to poor visibility in heavy cloud. It is reported that significant wreckage is still present at or near the impact site. This information was submitted by John Allan, who took the photographs featured on the above website. The wreckage is reported to be located from NG 457 632 to NG 459 633. <2>

Higher resolution copies of the photographs mentioned above were donated to the HER by John Allan in June 2009. <3>

This site was investigated earlier this year (2011) by Terence Christian of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow. Islanders had previously reported that they had seen the plan travelling east to west over Eilean Flodigarry before the impact, contradicting the official report that the plane was flying east towards the mainland. A BBC news story about the investigations quotes Terence Christian as saying that after examining the wreck's position in the landscape, and the spread and direction fo the wreckage, there was evidence to support eyewitness accounts. <4>