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Registration or Serial: V4554
Operator: Royal Navy /
FAA 823 Squadron / Naval Air Squadron
Operating Base: RAF
Machrihanish / RN HMS Landrail.
Base Location:
Machrihanish, near Campbeltown,
Argyll, Scotland.
Current Airport Status:
Operational Civil Airport; RAF Enhanced Care and Maintenance
airport.
Current Airport Name:
Campbeltown / Machrihanish Airport (EGEC)
(Principal airport data courtesy of
John Woodside,
A
Catalogue of UK Airfields)
Aircraft Nicknames:
Stringbag; Blackfish
Aircraft Type & Background
Designed originally as a 3-seater reconnaissance aircraft,
and equipped with a Bristol Pegasus nine cylinder radial
engine, the Swordfish was converted later to a torpedo
bomber.
By
the time WWII arrived, this large bi-plane had become
obsolete. Nevertheless, it was used with great effect
against several targets during WWII, including attacks on
Norway and against the German battleship, Bismarck.
Six Swordfish aircraft were involved in action against the
German warships, Scharnhorst,
Gneisenau and
Prinz Eugen.
All, however, were shot down by covering
German fighters.
Fairey Swordfish V4554 (featured here) had been delivered to
Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Eastleigh on 17 July 1941. In
September 1941, V4554 was delivered to the storage section
of RNAS Donibristle near Cowdenbeath in Fife. Subsequently,
on 1 November 1941, this Swordfish was taken from storage
and delivered to Fleet Air Arm (FAA) No. 823 Squadron. [SH]
Aircraft Accident Details
Fairey Swordfish V4554, together with 3 others, was en-route from Fraserburgh to
RAF Machrihanish, near Campbeltown in Argyll. The pilot was
Sub/Lt J. A. King. However, due to a
shortage of fuel, the other three Swordfish aircraft crashed
near Alexandria in Dunbartonshire, not far from Balloch by
Loch Lomond and several miles N of the
River Clyde. The fourth Swordfish, featured here, managed to
stay in the air for a few miles further, crossing to the
south side of the Clyde and crashing eventually
somewhere around Calder Dam, or in the vicinity of Queenside
Muir / Duchal Moor in the Renfrewshire Heights.
According to a report by Mr. A. McKellar—who was standing
close to the summit of Windy Hill at the time of the
accident—the very low flying Swordfish passed almost
directly overhead. However, as there were heavy snowfalls
and drifts at the time, Mr. McKellar was unaware that the
aircraft had crashed shortly afterward. Indeed, it was only
about 3 weeks later that the aircraft wreck was finally
discovered. Mr. R. Fleming, the McKellar family's shepherd,
was out searching for sheep lost on the snowbound moors.
According to Mr. Fleming, he found the wreck, together with
the dead airmen, lying between Queenside Muir and
Duchal
Moor.
According to another report, the aircraft lay on the hillside undiscovered
for about 12 days. Eventually, however, police and local
volunteers assisting in the search found the wreck. The
three airmen were removed, and the main
wreckage was removed by an RAF recovery team.
Those who died in this accident were:
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Accident Date
30
January 1942
Accident
Site
Calder Dam
/ Duchal Moor area
(Exact location unknown)
Region: Renfrewshire
Nearest
town or village: Lochwinnoch
The aircraft came down very
soon after passing over Windy Hill. It is assumed to have crashed in the vicinity of
the old Calder Dam. However, eye-witness reports give the
location as between Queenside Muir and Duchal Moor. It is
possible, of course, that fragments of wreckage were
scattered over a wide area.
Present Condition
Very little, if any, remains to be found on site. Fragments of the
aircraft were discovered by Muirshiel rangers near Old
Calder Dam in 1988.
Related Links
Articles on the Fairey
Swordfish are available here:
BELOW: Fairey Swordfish
torpedo bomber
Sub/Lt J. A. King was cremated at Leeds
(Lawns Wood) Crematorium. His name is recorded on Screen
Wall, Panel 2.
Leading Air Fitter R. G. Williams
was originally of
Ystrad Mynach,
Hengoed, Caerphilly,
Wales. He was laid to rest at
Ystrad Mynach (Bethania)
Calvanistic Methodist Chapelyard, Row C, Grave 479.
Air Fitter N. F. Matthews was laid to
rest at Heston (St. Leonard) Churchyard (Old Ground, Grave
21SR).
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