Iceland had been occupied by the British early in the conflict to prevent its occupation as a logical expansion of the German advance into Norway. The island was of vital strategic importance in maintaining a link across the Atlantic and as a base against the U-Boat offensive.

In August 1942, George Edward Alexander Edmund Windsor, Duke of Kent, then aged 39, was undertaking a tour of stations in his role as Air Commodore.

Transit flights between Britain and Iceland were commonplace. The particular nature of the station at Iceland had given rise to the common, but officially discouraged, practice of aircrews taking alcoholic drink with them for the various canteens. The gifts of whisky, gin and spirits also served as a useful lever with the local population who were resentful of the British presence. Personnel, spares and equipment were continually ferried to and from this northernmost outpost, running the gauntlet of the Norwegian based German aircraft.

The Duke of Kent was due to travel from Invergordon to Reykjavik on Tuesday 25th August 1942. An aircraft from 228 squadron at Oban had been selected and undergone a thorough maintenance check prior to the flight. The aircraft in question was a Sunderland mark3, W4026. Two days previously it had been slightly damaged in a taxiing accident at Oban and had required some minor repairs to a wing tip.

The flight personnel were hand-picked by the commanding officer, they consisted mainly of Flight Lieutenant Frederick Goyens regular crew.

Frank" Goyen, a 26 year old Australian was a very experienced pilot with over 1000 hours flying Sunderlands.

The aircraft took off early Sunday morning on the 23rd August, from Oban and flew up the Caledonian Canal towards Invergordon. After landing, the aircraft was refuelled and serviced for the flight to Iceland on the 25th. Sergeant Jack travelled up to Invergordon independently having been delayed and unable to join the crew at Oban. Much speculation surrounded this fact, to the extent that it has even been suggested that the circumstances were transposed in time in order to account for all the crew members after the crash. This is of course a complete fabrication and has no known basis in truth.

Weather conditions at Invergordon were overcast on the morning of the 25th. Fifteen minutes after take-off the aircraft encountered fog and Goyen would have had to resort to flying by instruments, relying on navigational estimates of flying time to calculate the prudent moment to turn west for the Pentland Firth. This, it would appear, was when a fatal and fundamental error was made. A strong on-shore wind had been encountered which would cause a slow flying aircraft to drift westwards. In these circumstances of fog and bad visibility the navigators estimate of sideways drift was obviously hindered.

    The aircraft crossed the Caithness coast course coinciding with the line of the river valley. At the head of the valley, still in poor visibility, it crossed a ridge and crashed into an outcrop known locally as The Eagles Rock. The resultant explosion instantly extinguished the lives of all on board save one, the tail gunner, Sergeant Andrew Jack, who, complete with the turret was hurled clear from the wreck. The turret took most of the impact although Jack sustained serious burns to his face and hands from the fuel load which had been sprayed over the hillside.

Semiconscious, Jack extricated himself from the wreckage and tried to descend the hill using streams as a guide. Several times he collapsed, eventually lapsing into unconsciousness. Two local crofters heard the plane flying low overhead and the sound of the explosion a short time later. The local doctor was summoned and, along with other local people, the party crossed four miles of moorland to the crash site. It was immediately evident that no survivors would be found there..

    Flight Sergeant Jack was not found for a further 22 hours, having staggered around injured and disorientated until he was seen trying to get through a gate by a local girl called Nell Sutherland. She took him to the family croft where her mother tried to tend to his serious burns and facial injuries, before setting out to get help.

The Duke of Kent's remains were taken to Dunrobin castle, Golspie in Sutherland. The remains of the others were taken back to Oban. The following week a burial service was held in Oban after which, a tragic procession of six lorries draped with the colours, acted as gun carriages. The procession was preceded by pipers and an honour guard with reversed arms, all of whom slow marched the two miles to Oban's Pennyfuir Cemetery in bright sunshine.

Special orders were issued that every trace of the aircraft was to be removed from the hillside. Local people at Dunbeath had noted the large number of bottles containing various types of alcoholic drinks strewn about the crash scene. Rumours not unnaturally abounded that all aboard had been drunk, that the Duke himself had been flying and even that Hess had been onboard!

On September 14th the King, George VI, visited the spot where his brother had been killed .

The findings of a Court of Enquiry as revealed in Hansard on October 7th 1942, apportioned blame for the crash on the captain of the aircraft, "Who changed flight plan for reasons unknown and descended through cloud without making sure he was over water and crashed".    

Much conjecture has been put on the fate of this particular aircraft but despite its eminent passenger it was only one of many wartime sorties to meet a sudden and violent end upon the unforgiving mountains of Scotland

 It would appear inconceivable that there truly was an act of deliberate sabotage carried out, to rid the country of a member of the Royal family, allegedly given to pro-German sentiment, as has been proposed.

We will probably never get to know the full and tragic truth about the end of Sunderland W4026, though the crash was, whilst tragic in itself, unfortunately totally unremarkable, given the technology of the day.