Wings Over Wick
1939 - 1945
Airfield And Aircraft Defence

Mr J Cowan,  Dalkeith, Midlothian
I was not in the RAF but the Royal Artillery, stationed at Reiss just along the coast. I remember coming back from Wick sometime in 1942 and walking past the airport when a Whitley Bomber came in to land, it seemed to overshoot the runway and try to take off again, I heard the engines rev up and then stall. The plane was only about 200ft above my head when this happened, it then just fell sideways and crashed in the field on the left hand side of the road. The tailpiece broke off the plane and the bodies of some of the crew were lying about the field. I don't think there were any survivors.

This incident still sticks in my mind as it was the first time during the war that I had encountered war casualties.