Dunbeath air crash

Dunbeath air crash
	Short Sunderland Mk. III (similar aircraft)
Accident
Date	25 August 1942
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Eagle's Rock, near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland; 58°14.1781′N 3°30.5338′W / 58.2363017°N 3.5088967°W
Aircraft type	Short Sunderland Mk. III
Operator	No. 18 Group, Royal Air Force
Registration	W4026
Flight origin	RAF Invergordon, Scotland
Destination	RAF Reykjavik, Iceland
Passengers	4
Crew	11
Fatalities	14
Injuries	1
Survivors	1

Location of crash site

The Dunbeath air crash was the crash of a Short S.25 Sunderland Mk. III in the Scottish Highlands, on a headland known as Eagle's Rock (Scottish Gaelic: Creag na h-Iolaire) near Dunbeath, Caithness, on 25 August 1942.^[1]^[2] The crash killed 14 of 15 passengers and crew, including Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was on duty as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force on a mission to Reykjavík;^[3] a message of condolence was proposed in Parliament by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.^[4] A Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the crash was the result of a navigational error by the crew leading to controlled flight into terrain.^[5]

^ "Secret of duke's plane death". BBC News. 23 December 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Short Sunderland III W4026 Dunbeath, Scotland". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
^ "Mystery still surrounds Eagle's Rock air crash". John O'Groat Journal. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
^ "Death of Air Commodore His Royal Highness the Duke Kent". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 8 September 1942. col. 42. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
^ "Aircraft Accident, Court of Inquiry (Findings)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Written Answers. 7 October 1942. col. 1228w. Retrieved 23 June 2017.