RAF Avro Anson & RAF de Havilland Mosquito, Corserine, crash dates 23/10/42 & 21/01/44



[Pictures from wikipedia.org]

OS 10-figure grid refs (GPS):

Anson: NX 49699 87180
Mosquito: NX 50479 87024

 Google Maps display showing wreckage locations

The summit of Corserine in the Rhinns of Kells in the Galloway hills contains the wreck sites of two aircraft from crashes during the Second World War, less than 1km apart.

At the site of the Anson crash there is a small scar about 150m north-west of the summit trig-point of Corserine at an altitude of about 800m. In the scar very little is left of the Anson, except a few small pieces of rusted metal and the only identifiable part, a battery.

The PDAAR website contains information about this crash and photos here.

The Mosquito wreck site is about 700m east of the summit of Corserine at the eastern edge of the summit plateau near an area called 'Scar of the Folk' on the OS 1:25000 map, at an altitude of about 780m. At the site is a small debris field with some small pieces of wreckage remaining, including parts of the undercarriage mechanism. Some parts of the Mosquito's wooden frame are still recognisable.

The PDAAR website contains information about this crash and photos here.

About 2km to the south-west of the summit of Corserine, in the forested slopes near Downies Burn, there lies some wreckage including Cheetah radial engines of the type used in Ansons. This wreckage appears to be from another Anson crash (L9153) in the Rhinns of Kells area in 1939. The PDAAR website contains information about this crash and photos here and the AWUK&I website contains information about this crash and photos here.

About 1km to the north-east of the summit of Corserine, below the steep slope of Castlemaddy Gairy, according to the AWWG book, there lies some wreckage (propellor reduction gear, engine, section of wing) from a Belgian Air Force Dakota that crashed near the summit of Carlin's Cairn in 1947, although I was unable to find any of this wreckage on a visit to the site in September 2011.

These pictures were taken in September 2011.

Anson:

Mosquito: