Tain AFB

The crew (236th OCU) was engaged in a night training sortie from RAF Kinloss. While flying in the vicinity of Tain, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in flames in a prairie. All five crew members were injured while the aircraft was destroyed.

While cruising in poor weather conditions at a height of 3,600 feet, the twin engine aircraft hit the slope of Stob ant’Sluichd located some 20 km southeast of Aviemore, Scotland. SAR operations were suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was found. The wreckage was eventually found by walkers on August 19, 1945, on the top of the mountain, some 10 feet below the summit. All five crew members were killed.
Crew (311th Squadron):
W/O Rudolf Jelen, pilot,
F/O Jan Vella, copilot,
S/L Karel Kvapil, pilot,
F/O Leo Linhart, pilot,
P/O Valter Kauders, wireless operator.

The airplane departed RAF Tain to attack the German battleship Tirpitz moored in the Fættenfjord northeast of Trondheim. While returning to base the following night, the crew reported his position over Sumburgh at 0210LT then contact was lost. The airplane crashed in unknown circumstances into the sea some 16 miles south of Sumburgh Head. No trace of the airplane nor the crew was ever found.
Crew:
S/L Arthur Patrick Burdett, pilot,
P/O Norman Frederick Bowsher, pilot,
Sgt Leonard William Hanson, flight engineer,
F/Sgt William John Cadger, navigator,
F/Sgt Leonard Watson Fletcher, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Davis, wireless operator,
Sgt Dennis Clifford Martin, air gunner.

The airplane was engaged in a local training flight at RAF Tain when it suffered un undercarriage failure upon landing and was damaged beyond repair. There were no injuries among the crew.