To make some sense of what happened that night I quote again from Liam Briodys Book. The World War II Aeroplane Crash in the Blue Stack Mountains.
An Experience the same night
- this was from D A Sinclair now living in Australia, who was on patrol the same night, while it has nothing to do with the crash of DW110 it does give you some insight.
"On that night I was Captain of Sunderland JM683 of 461 Squadron also diverted from Pembroke Dock to Lough Erne. At briefing for the flight (an Anti Sub Patrol over the Bay of Biscay) it was anticipated that we would be diverted to Lough Erne but we were not issued with the WT crystal for the frequency of the beam from Lough Erne area into the Atlantic since, as my memory goes, it was not available.
We were in fact diverted which required a flight up the West Coast of Ireland with a starboard turn into the corridor into Lough Erne. Without the crystal the turn had to be made on a dead recoking position.
In normal circumstances this would have posed no problem (I cannot recall ever being in real need of ground aids) But the night was far from normal. The weather was as bad as I had experienced, at least to that time and, more probably, ever. Navigation depended on drift sight taken by the tail gunner on flame floats. My memory is that the tail gunner gave readings something like "15port 5 starboard - can't see it no more" And with this the Navigator assumed (and he could do little else) a very strong wind, it was clear from the after events that the wind was either much stronger than assumed or had a larger Southerly component, or both. Events suggest that it was at least 70 to Nth from the South West.
However, we hopefully turned in for Lough Erne and found the Coast. Despite the fact that the night was completely overcast we could see the outline of the coast from the Breakers, but saw that it bore no relaton to the coast we expected.
During the time we were flying about trying to indentify "something" the WOP (Wireless Operator) was seeking a QDM from the ground Station without success because of the poor WT conditions. Finally he received a QDM (Course to steer) of 180 in the very poor category. This however allowed us to establish that we were a long way out of position and to identify the Coast. We were a long way North and off course.
Now knowing that Lough Erne was approximately South we set off directly overland at 4,000ft. Shortly after crossing the coast I found that cloud was forming below us. I decided that this was not for me and turned back to coast crawl to the Lough Erne Corridor, which we did and landed successfully.
Two points: There was a very large altimeter error due to the change in barometric pressure since take off.
I note from my Log Book that we were airborn for 14 1/2 hours which for many Sunderlands was quite long. I was fortunate in having a relatively new aircraft with good consumption. Maybe DW110 was not so lucky and fuel became a problem."
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The Official Report by the RAF
signed by Flght/Lt J Scott.
(retyped from the original)
The crash occured on a very steep slope 200 feet below the top of a 2219 feet summit, the approximate position being lat 54 45 15 North and long. 080430 West. The surface consisted mostly of granite and the aircraft was apparently on a South Easterly course in level flight when it hit the mountain side bow on. It came to rest in little more than it's own length, the wings would appear to have carried on over the bow and the lower part of the hull. The subsequent explosion left very little worth salvaging.
The engine, propellors etc, were torn apart and scattered about the wreckage except upper part of the centre section which had been carried forward with the wings. Some wireless equipment was found in the centre section and from that it can be gathered the fire had been kept from the centre section and the starboard wing on account of the very strong wind prevailing at the time.
The tail turret and the tail plane and fin had been damaged by fire but still held together. The guns of the turret were almost undamaged, the forward guns were seriously damaged, and probably the galley guns will be of no further use, these (the guns) together with the wireless equipment found in the centre section have been held by the Eire authorities for return eventually through normal channels.
The I.F.F. box, though damaged, was found clear of the fire area and this together with the "GEE" set, which from external appearances, seemed to be in good condition, were taken back to RAF Castle Archdale on the 1st February.
Various papers, including intelligence folder, navigation logs and navigation charts and W/T logs were found and brought back to Castle Archdale. They are considerably damaged by fire and water but most of the entries can be read. These have been passed to the Court of Inquiry.
Four DC's were found, they were thrown clear of the fire area, and presumably the other DC's exploded in the fire. Before leaving the scene of the crash these 4 DC's were piled together with the remains of the ASV equipment and other pyrotechnics and all detonated.
As far as can be ascertained the actual time of the crash was between 23.30 and 23.40 hours on the 31st January 1944. 2 watches have been recovered unidentified and both these have stopped between 23.30 and 23.40 hours.
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