RAF English Electric Canberra, Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, crash date 22/11/56


[Picture from wikipedia.org]

Full list of OS 10-figure grid refs (GPS)

 Google Maps display showing wreckage locations

This site is perhaps the most spectacular air wreck site in the Scottish mountains. A Canberra jet crashed on the Munro summit of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor in 1956, and a very large amount of the wreckage still lies scattered around the summit area. The debris field covers an area of about 600m by 600m, centred on the flat 1047m summit of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, with large pieces to the north, west and east of the summit, some lying in boulderfields away from the main walking paths, down to an altitude of about 960m. There are excellent views at the site towards Lochnagar and the southern Cairngorms.

Remains of all three of the Canberra's main wheels are still at the site, including one that is standing upright and in excellent condition - this is perhaps one of the most unusual pieces of air wreckage of all the crash sites in the Scottish mountains (16th & 17th photos from May 2009 below).

Remains of parts of the Canberra's Rolls-Royce Avon jet engines are still visible as well (9th, 13th, 14th, 21st, 23rd & 24th photos from May 2009 below). See this photo of the interior of an intact Avon engine for comparison.

Large pieces of the wings lie less than 200m from the summit cairn of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, making this site one of the most likely to be encountered by hillwalkers in Scotland (2nd, 3rd & 4th photos from August 2004 and 12th photo from May 2009).

In correspondence from October 2012, Neil Daniel reported that on a visit to the site in late September 2012 the large section of wing near the summit had been turned over to reveal a well-preserved RAF roundel - one of his photographs of this can be seen here.

There are some photos of this site on the TFDACSS website here. There is some information about the crash and photos of the site on the ACSS website here.

There is some information about the crash here.

These pictures were taken in August 2004.

These pictures were taken in May 2009.