Date:	Friday 25 September 1942
Time:	00:30 LT
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk III
Owner/operator:	12 OTU RAF
Registration:	BJ697
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near the Brecon to Swansea Road, Fan Hir, Brecon Beacons -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire
Destination airport:	Return.

Narrative:
This Wellington was assigned to the 12 OTU. The plane flew into Fan Hir in the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons, at about 510 metres above sea level on a cross-country training flight at night on 25th/26th September 1942. The cause given was that the aircraft has been off course. Of the five crew, there were four survivors, one crewman died later. The crew comprised of:

Flight Sgt Kenneth Sucking Hardwick Bird (Service Number 1178733) (pilot, aged 22) - died of injuries 29 September 1942; buried in St Leonard's churchyard, Cliddesden, Hampshire.
Sgt W.D. Barr;
Sgt W.A. Fairweather;
Sgt Troughbridge and
Sgt J. Head

Of these five, Sgt. J. Head was only slightly injured, and helped locals carry the injured crew members off the hill. The landlady of the Gwynne Arms in Glyntawe saw a large fire burning, and her son and two guests climbed the mountain to investigate. The crewmen were taken to Neath hospital, where Flt Sgt Bird died. Sgt Barr required plastic surgery and was eventually invalided out of the service in March 1944.

Most of the wreckage was salvaged by 78 MU RAF, helped by local farmers using horses and carts. Numerous small pieces remain amongst the rocks and grass tufts. The crash site is located near the Brecon to Swansea Road. Today the site is marked by a cairn and small pieces of wreckage has been gathered.

Crew:
F/Sgt Kenneth Suckling/Hardwick Bird 22yo 1178733 RAFVR. Pilot. Injured/died 29th. 1
Son of Frederick Charles and Muriel M. M. Bird of Basingstoke.
Sgt W. D. Barr RAFVR. 2nd Pilot. Injured. 2
Sgt William Arthur Fairweather RAFVR. Nav’. Injured. 3
Sgt Troughbridge RAFVR. W/Op. Injured. 4
Sgt J. Head RAFVR. A/Gnr. Uninjured.

Buried:
1 Cliddesden (St Leonard) Churchyard. S.E. Corner of church.

Additional Information:
2 Sgt Barr received extensive burns and after his treatment (including Plastic Surgery, becoming one of the ‘Guinea Pigs’, was medically discharged from the RAF and never flew again.
3 Sgt Fairweather also received injuries and after treatment, went of to pass out the OTU and went to No15 squadron. Where during a raid on Essen on the night of the 25th/26th of July 1943. Stirling BK805 of which he was a crew member, was hit by a Bf-110G-4 Night fighter of 9NJG, flown by Hptm Wihelm Dormann. The crew had to bail out and Fairweather was captured, taken POW, incarcerated along with three others of BK805 at Stalag 4B at Muhlberg (Elbe). Survived the war.
Sgt Troughbridge. No further details but did see out the war!
Sgt Bird through the Suckling family he was second cousin six times
removed to a military casualty of greater fame: Horatio Nelson.

1. Brecon Beacons National Park, 1995, Identification Guide Aircraft Crashes in the National Park, ID 5
2. Doylerush, E, 2008, Rocks in the Clouds: High Ground Aircraft Crashes in South Wales, p.27-8, p.109.
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2691192/bird,-kenneth-suckling-hardwick/
4. https://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.com/2013/05/wellington-bj697.html
5. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
6. https://peakwreckhunters.blogspot.com/2009/03/armstrong-vickers-wellington-bj697.html
7. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasujoba44/7980511425/
8. https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/plane-wrecks-in-the-brecon-beacons-march-and-may-2018.113213/
9. https://aviationresearch.my-free.website/12-otu-1942
10. http://bsandsl.blogspot.com/2011/03/sun-13-march-2011fan-hir-761m-2497-ft.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Chipping_Warden

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-May-2019 20:48	Dr. John Smith	Added
25-May-2019 11:40	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
21-Sep-2022 06:33	Davies 62	Updated [Destination airport, Narrative]