RAF Avro Anson, Little Garvoun, crash date 07/08/41


[Picture from wikipedia.org]

OS 10-figure grid refs (GPS):

NJ 12551 08807
NJ 12467 08822

 Google Maps display showing wreckage locations

This wreck site may well be the most inaccessible in the whole of the Scottish mountains in terms of its remoteness and distance from the nearest public road (over 10km); it lies near the minor 721m summit of Little Garvoun on the anonymous and little-visited moorlands north of Glen Avon in the eastern Cairngorms. The site is about 8km to the east of the Vickers Wellington on An Lurg near Bynack More (see my page about this site here) and about 7km north of the site of the Airspeed Oxford on Beinn a'Bhuird (see my page about this site here), both sites are also of crashed Second World War aircraft in quite remote locations.

There is a fair amount of wreckage remaining at the site, most lying in a scar in a fairly compact area at an altitude of about 700m. There is a cairn at the site that was erected in 1991, acting as a memorial to the crew that died in the crash. The crash during the Second World War is still fairly well-known in the Tomintoul area although the site itself is rarely visited, as all approaches to the site are long and difficult.

The wreckage itself is highly fragmented although the two engines are still recognisable, with propellors still attached to one. There is also what looks like a section of undercarriage. Some of the wreckage has yellow bodywork paint still visible, probably indicating the training role of this particular aircraft. A small amount of wreckage is also scattered in a ravine about 70m to the west of the impact scar.

There is almost no information about this crash in any book or on any website, but there is some information on a walking route description here, and some discussion about the crash on a forum here (with links to two scans of newspaper clippings of the 1991 memorial cairn unveiling ceremony). The WYACU website has some pictures of the site and information about the crash here.

These pictures were taken in July 2011.