Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88, Hare Hill, Pentland Hills, crash date 25/03/43


[Picture from wikipedia.org]

OS 10-figure grid refs (GPS):

NT 16960 62142
NT 16959 62137
NT 16975 62153
NT 16973 62171

 Google Maps display showing wreckage locations

This site lies at an altitude of 400m in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. The site is about 300m north-west of the summit of Hare Hill. The German aircraft was on a bombing raid of Edinburgh during the Second World War when it crashed in the Pentland Hills to the south-west of the city.

There are 5 small debris fields at the site (separated by about 20m), one of which has a marker post situated at it with a small plaque containing the names of the four German aircrew who died. One of the debris fields contains what looks like the remains of a leather boot. The site is relatively unknown and not all that easy to find despite being so close to major population centres (it took me four visits to locate).

The bodies of the German airmen were buried in the nearby Kirknewton Cemetery until 1962, when their remains were transferred to the German War Cemetery in Cannock Chase in England. A plaque on a wall in Kirknewton Cemetery memorialises the airmen (photos from April 2010 below).

The ACSS website has some pictures of the site and information about the crash here. The PDAAR website has a picture of the site here. There is a webpage with details of the aircraft and its crew here.

The 'Pentland Beacon', a bi-annual magazine publication from the Pentland Hills Regional Park Ranger Service, has a short article about another aircraft crash during the Second World War in the Pentland Hills (a Spitfire on West Cairn Hill, about 7km south-west of Hare Hill, although there is no known wreckage from this crash). The article can be seen here (page 4).

These pictures were taken in May 2008.

These pictures were taken in April 2010.