01 There are several places in the south west of Scotland where aircraft have crashed onto the hillside over the years. On Cairnsmore of Fleet there is a memorial to the dead from 9 aircraft which have crashed there. On Craignaw in the Dungeon Hills there is a memorial to two men who died in an F1-11E on the 19th of December 1979. On Darnaw beside Clatteringshaws Reservoir there is another monument to four men who died on the Daily Express Firefly aicraft on the 2nd February 1937.

But there is also this crash site at the top of the North Gairy of Corserine with no memorial. It is remains of a Mosquito which crashed here on 20th January 1944. Both crewmen were killed and it was not until the 11th of February that the wreck was found. We just chanced on it one day coming past this way. The Ordnance Survey grid reference would be NX505869.

If you compare the first two pictures here you will see how close the pilot was to getting over the hill. Eighty metres or so higher and he would have missed Corserine altogether. Even 60 feet higher and he could probably have landed there - the top is so broad and flat. For further pictures of this area of the North Gairy see Rhinns from Fore Bush (1) I have been told on very reliable authority that there are remains of another plane on Meikle Craigtarson which is the ridge that runs off Corserine to the west.

The third and fourth pictures show Sandy examining the debris. As I commented in the pages on the Darnaw crash site, it is noticeable how the vegetation never seems to recover at these sites.
There is an excellent Aviation Museum in Dumfries where you can find out much more about the history of aviation in this area and see such things as aircraft engines etc., which have been recovered under licence from crash sites - aviation archaeology in fact.