Environmental Impact - Crashed Planes

Skye

A brand new B-17 Flying Fortress was being flown in from the USA via Stornoway in late '45. The plane made an attempt to descend below cloud base, not realising that they were off course The trip would be a long drawn out affair, and the crew, apart from the two pilots, Navigator and Flight Engineer the latter of whom would have busied himself with engine temp, fuel & oil temp gauge checks would have had little to do, so time perhaps to catch up on a book or magazine story, or perhaps write a letter to a loved one back home.

Flying towards the Isle of Skye at 8-900ft , with the cloud & mist shrouding the mountains, the crew were unaware of the dangers within, and entering another band of cloud, at around 1pm the stricken fortress impacted with a rocky mountain, Ben Edra (North of The Old Man) virtually head-on.

Locals ran to the crash site and they could see the plane on fire.

As they got closer they realised there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t get any closer as the ammunition was exploding and firing in all directions as the plane was burning. The plane couldn’t be reached as it was right at the Top of a rocky crevice. By the time the rescue party reached the plane it was pretty much burned out.

All the American crew had perished on the plane. One airman had been thrown clear but soon died of his injuries. It was a terrible day for the people of Staffin, one they would never forget. To this day people visit the site. A substantial amount of debris remains at the site including the landing gear, structural parts and aluminium skin, engines and turbochargers.