ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 172545
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| Date: | Saturday 16 January 1943 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa |
| Owner/operator: | 58 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | P8276 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | King’s Seat Hill, Clackmananshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Grangemouth, Stirlingshire |
| RAF Grangemouth |
On Saturday 16th January 1943, three Spitfires from 58 OTU RAF (Grangemouth) on a flying exercise were diverted due to bad weather. They were ordered to land at Balado but because of an accident there they made for Perth. Their radios went silent and no one knew where they were.
Still flying in formation in dense mist they crashed near the top of King’s Seat in the Ochils, north of Dollar, Clackmannanshire. Two of the pilots, Flg Off Hugh Gordon ’Bud’ Reynolds and Sgt Gordon Murray Duda, both of RCAF and 21, died instantly. The third pilot, Sgt Vincent P Daly RAAF, survived. Two days later Mr Ian Cullens of Dollarbank Farm found him trying to crawl down the hill in the snow despite breaking both legs and contracting pneumonia.
A cairn has been built as a lasting tribute on the site, unveiled in 2009 during a ceremony of dedication, marked by a fly past of Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and a Lancaster bomber. Major Brian Imrie, of the Army Air Corps, was the driving force behind the memorial. He said during the ceremony: " We owe these men a debt of remembrance."
Duda was flying Spitfire Ia X4614, Reynolds the Spitfire Ia AR254, and Daly the Spitfire IIa P8276. All three aircraft were destroyed in the crashes. At the time of their loss, AR254 had flown 585.30 hours and P8276 420.45.
Sgts Reynolds and Duda are both buried at Grangemouth Grandsable Cemetery. Duda was an American pilot who enlisted in the RCAF.
Sources:
http://www.rememberingscotlandatwar.org.uk/Accessible/Exhibition/136/Homefront
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wwshack/Misc/58OTURollOfHonour.htm
http://jimpson.freewebsites.com/Blairdenon/index.html
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx
http://www.spitfires.ukf.net/p006.htm
http://www.spitfires.ukf.net/p015.htm
http://www.spitfires.ukf.net/p021.htm
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ochils/kingsseat/index.html
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=56.1749~-3.70102&lvl=14&sty=s&eo=1&where1=United%20Kingdom
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Dec-2014 01:34 | angels one five | Added |
| 16-Jul-2015 19:47 | Angel dick five | Updated [Nature, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 16-Jul-2015 19:48 | Angel dick one | Updated [Operator] |
| 16-Jan-2016 20:24 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Aug-2018 06:12 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 05-Feb-2021 23:13 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Other fatalities] |
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