(All images by Mel Stephens, reproduced with permission)
While climbing Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, one of the Munros of Scotland, photographer Mel Stephens came upon the wreckage of an English Electric Canberra bomber that had crashed there on November 22, 1956.
The doomed aircraft, serial number WJ615, departed its base at RAF Upwood in Cambridgeshire on a three hour sortie, which involved a practice diversion to RAF Kinloss on Scotland’s Moray Firth.
The Canberra B2 made its last transmission around 7:30pm, shortly before witnesses reported an unusually low flying aircraft in the vicinity Braemar. One individual reported seeing the jet’s outline and navigation lights in the dark.
Minutes later there was a flash of light as the aircraft crashed into the hillside, killing its pilot and navigator.
The conditions that night were described as clear with a few scattered clouds, and a court of inquiry struggled to establish the cause of the crash. The wreckage, which includes a remarkably intact wing with roundel and serial number still visible, rests on Carn an t-Sagairt Mor today.
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