Monument record MHG54350 - De Havilland Mosquito crash site, Creag Mhic Dhomhnuill Oig

The De Havilland Mosquito MM244 of No. 544 Squadron crashed on 25 November 1943 after suffering from petrol injection problems. The plane took off from RAF Benson on a high-level training mission along with six other Mosquito crews. Their proposed flight plan was to fly north west over the Scottish coastline and, after circling a particular coastal rock island, return to base. After reaching altitude both engines were lost in succession and upon descent the plane encountered a dense blanket of low-level cloud. Both crew parachuted to safety, landing on the east and west sides of Loch Ness respectively. The Mosquito MM244 continued to glide for a period of time before crashing just above the western coast of Loch Ness. Recovery crews removed the plane's two Rolls-Royce Merlin 72 power plans and buried the remaining wreckage in an unmarked pit.
The Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow, proposed to excavate the crash site in July 2010 as one half of a study into the methodology of airplane archaeology. A second plane (an Avro Anson or Airspeed Oxford) will be excavated in summer 2011. Together, the excavation of the wooden Mosquito and the metal Anson/Oxford will provide evidence as to the survivability of wooden and metal skinned Second World War aircraft sites within Scotland. As a companion to these two excavations, nine other surviving Mosquito/Anson sites will be surveyed; this research will provide an extensive comparison data set. This comparison study will be the first to assess, in detail, both the current state, and the attrition rate, of Scottish Second World War aircraft cultural resources. <1>

Further information and personal reminiscences can be found in the entry on the Air Crash Sites Scotland website (see link at bottom of this record). <2>