Sir, – Norman Freeman in An Irishman’s Diary (June 5th) describes the RAF airfield at Greencastle constructed in early 1942 as being on a site “cradled from the prevailing winds” by the Mourne and Cooley Mountains. That siting had fatal consequences.
In March 1942, an RAF bomber flying from Egypt to England via Gibraltar was hopelessly off course after encountering a storm as it flew off the west French coast.
Unable to reach its original destination in Dorset and running low on fuel, it flew along the east coast of Ireland heading for the safety of Greencastle. It crashed into Sliabh na Glogh in the Cooley Mountains in poor weather, killing 15 of the 19 on board.
In 2022, a memorial incorporating material from the doomed aircraft was unveiled at the site of the crash. It was erected by a local community group and the unveiling was attended by some relatives of the young men who were killed. It was one of the worst aircraft accidents in terms of loss of life on the Allied side in the second World War. – Yours, etc,
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DAVID LOUGHLIN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.