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Dunbeath air crash

Short Sunderland Mk. III (similar aircraft)
Accident
Date	25 August 1942
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Eagle's Rock, near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland 58°14.1781′N 3°30.5338′W / 58.2363017°N 3.5088967°W / 58.2363017; -3.5088967
Aircraft type	Short Sunderland Mk. III
Operator	No. 18 Group, Royal Air Force
Registration	W4026
Flight origin	RAF Invergordon, Scotland
Destination	RAF Reykjavik, Iceland
Passengers	4
Crew	11
Fatalities	14
Injuries	1
Survivors	1

The Dunbeath air crash was the crash of a Short S.25 Sunderland Mk. III in the Scottish Highlands, on a headland known as Eagle's Rock (Scottish Gaelic: Creag na h-Iolaire) near Dunbeath, Caithness, on 25 August 1942. The crash killed 14 of 15 passengers and crew, including Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was on duty as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force on a mission to Reykjavík; a message of condolence was proposed in Parliament by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. A Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the crash was the result of a navigational error by the crew leading to controlled flight into terrain.

Background

The aircraft, assigned to 228 Squadron, was based at RAF Oban. 228 Squadron was part of 18 Group, involved in long-range maritime operations and particularly anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and long-range liaison flights.

Flight details

The aircraft and crew were on a VIP transport mission to RAF Reykjavik, specifically to fly Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Iceland. The aircraft took off from a seaplane base at RAF Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth at 1305 GMT on Sunday 25 August 1942 in fog, which persisted. The Sunderland, flying on instruments, veered off its planned flight path and crashed into the remote Eagle's Rock at 13:42 GMT. Fourteen of the fifteen crew and passengers, including the Duke of Kent, died in the crash. Sergeant Andrew Jack was the sole survivor.

Official cause

The official board of inquiry concluded that the plane crashed into the hillside due to an error of navigation; i.e. there was not enough allowance made for wind that caused the aircraft to drift off its planned track up the eastern coast of Scotland.

The Board noted that investigation at the crash site suggested that all four engines were at full power at the time of impact.

Sole survivor

Sergeant Andrew Jack, the aircraft's Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, survived. Jack recovered from the injuries he sustained in the accident, was later commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the General Duties Branch on 12 January 1945, and served in the RAF until 1964, retiring as a Flight Lieutenant. Jack died in Brighton in 1978 aged 56.

Flight Sergeant Jack's niece has claimed that Jack told his brother that the Duke had been at the controls of the plane (the Duke had held a pilot's licence since 1929); that Jack had dragged him from the pilot's seat after the crash; and that there was an additional person on board the plane whose identity has never been revealed.

Interment site

Four of the 228 Squadron crew's remains were interred at Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban. The Duke of Kent, the first member of a British Royal Family to die on active military service since the death of James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.

References

1. "Secret of duke's plane death". BBC News. 23 December 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
2. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Short Sunderland III W4026 Dunbeath, Scotland". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
3. "Mystery still surrounds Eagle's Rock air crash". John O'Groat Journal. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
4. "Death of Air Commodore His Royal Highness the Duke Kent". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 8 September 1942. col. 42. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
5. ^ "Aircraft Accident, Court of Inquiry (Findings)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Written Answers. 7 October 1942. col. 1228w. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
6. ^ media, oban future. "Oban Royal Air Force Station, Scotland – The Flying Boat Squadrons". www.rafoban.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
7. Nesbit, Roy Conyers (2010). Missing: Believed Killed: Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Glenn Miller and the Duke of Kent. Pen and Sword. p. 106. ISBN 9781526704528. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
8. "THE CRASH OF THE DUKE OF KENT". www.iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
9. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Short Sunderland III W4026 Dunbeath, Scotland". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
10. "DUKE OF KENT CRASH VICTIM! (August 26, 1942)". Retrieved 22 June 2017.
11. "Eagle's Rock Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland". www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
12. "Short Sunderland W4026, Eagle's Rock, Caithness | Air Crash Sites-Scotland". www.aircrashsites-scotland.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
13. "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 3 APRIL, 1945" (PDF). The London Gazette. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
14. Nesbit, Roy Conyers (2010). Missing: Believed Killed: Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Glenn Miller and the Duke of Kent. Pen and Sword. p. 125. ISBN 9781848843196. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
15. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
16. "Secret of Duke's plane death." BBC News, Wales, 23 December 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2017
17. Virtual War Memorial
18. Oban (Pennyfuir) Cemetery – Commonwealth War Graves
19. "Aviation - Newbattle at war". newbattleatwar.wordpress.com.

• Aviation accidents and incidents in 1942
• 1942 in aviation
• Accidents and incidents involving Royal Air Force aircraft
• Aviation accidents and incidents in Scotland
• 1942 in Scotland
• 1942 disasters in the United Kingdom
• August 1942 events in the United Kingdom