PLEASE NOTE THE CACHE IS NOT LOCATED WITHIN THE WRECKAGE SITE, THEREFORE NO WRECKAGE NEEDS TO BE DISTURBED.
There are other ways to access this wreck site but if using my parking coordinates park and walk along the public road towards Succothmore farm, at Succothmore farm take the left onto the rough path (at telephone pole) to pass the farm on your right. Follow this path until it splits at approximately 1 mile from the parking location, at this point again take the left and head down towards the river, through the gate and over the bridge (Path Split coordinates N 56° 10.645' W 5° 0.788'). From here you can decide to take the left onto the top path or to follow the bottom path on the right. Either way when you reach the end of whichever path you choose, you will need to go cross country to the wreck site. Whichever route you take I would recommend that you take your own coordinates when at the end of the path before going cross country to use as a reference for your return.
Below is a picture of the actual aircraft taken on April 14 1948 at Goose Bay, Labrador, 9 moths before it crashed.
Rermains of the rear gun turret below
Memorial Cairn
Date: 17-JAN-1949
Time: 09:50
Type: Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Owner/operator: 31st BSqn /301st BWg USAF (31st BSqn /301st Bomb Wingg United States Air Force)
Registration: 44-62276
MSN: 11753
Fatalities: Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20
Other fatalities: 0
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Bein Tharsuinn, Succoth Glen, 2.5 miles W of Lochgoilhead, Argyll - United Kingdom
Phase: En route
Nature: Military
Departure airport: RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport: Smokey Hill AFB, Salinas, Kansas
Boeing B-29A-70-BN Superfortress 44-62279: Delivered to the USAAF 15 February 1946. Assigned to 31st Bomb Squadron, 301st Bomb Wing, Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas.
On the morning of January 17, 1949, Boeing B-29 Superfortress 44-62276 took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, England, on a return trip to her airfield at Smoky Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Salinas, Kansas, with twenty passengers and crew on board, accompanied by a similar aircraft. The crew were reported to be on leave, having previously been involved in the Berlin Airlift, dropping supplies into the city which had been blockaded by Soviet forces.
The planned route was overland via Scotland, then on to Keflavik, Iceland, where they would stop to refuel and take on supplies. The weather was variable, and as the two aircraft reached Strathclyde, falling temperatures and cloud began to cause icing of their wings and control surfaces. The pilot of the second B-29, Captain Donald E Riggs, decided conditions had become too severe to continue, and turned back for Scampton. Unfortunately, there is no record of the circumstances surrounding the first aircraft, piloted by 1st Lt Sheldon C. Craigmyle.
At 09:50, the B-29 crashed into the side of Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn, a hill in Succoth Glen, near Lochgoilhead, Argyll, spreading wreckage in the valley between Stob na Boine and Beinn Tharsuinn. All twenty passengers and crew perished, with the aircraft being consumed by the resultant fire.
The subsequent inquiry was unable to determine the exact cause of the accident, but the adverse weather and heavy icing were deemed to be contributory factors.
Crew and passengers lost with B-29 44-62276
Pilot 1st Lt Sheldon C Craigmyle
Co-pilot 1st Lt Myrton P Barry
Navigator 1st Lt Richard D Klingenberg
Bombardier 1st Lt Robert A Fritsche
T/Sgt Delbert E Cole
M/Sgt Wayne W Baker
T/Sgt John B Lapicca
S/Sgt Malcolm W Bovard
Sgt Anthony V Chrisides
Sgt Rufus W Mangum
PFC Jack L Heacock
M/Sgt Henry P Prestoch
T/Sgt Frank M Dobbs Jr
Sgt Cecil G Jones
Sgt Charles W Hess
PFC Robert Brown Jr
T/Sgt Rufus G Taylor
Sgt Paul W Knight
PFC Frederick N Cook
PFC Bruce J Krumhols
On April 3, 2004, the Daily Mail ran a feature on the crash, writing that the aircraft carried a cargo of diamonds worth some £250,000 at the time of writing. Nothing has ever been found of the haul its story referred to
A report compiled following an investigation carried out in 2005 can be found here
Details of a group walk to the crash site can be found here