Two years of researching the crash of the WW2 bomber into the sea off Saltcoats harbour in 1943 has now been completed and all available details, including photographs of local fisherman David Shedden (rescuer) and three of the crew members, have been passed over to North Ayrshire Heritage and are a...

Further information has been identified following extensive research, looking at documents and through contact with a wide range of people. The full story is one of bravery and tragedy, when a stricken aircraft passed over Saltcoats and crashed into the sea two miles off the harbour, with the loss o...

Corrections to my previous posts: the Whitley Bomber should have been identified as Z9362 and the correct spelling for the local fisherman is Mr Shedden. The three aircrew who lost their lives in the Whitley Bomber Z9362 (24 Operational Training Unit) crash just off Saltcoats harbour on 2nd May 1943...

I have more information, provided by Tony Hibberd, one of the moderators of the Facebook group ‘RAF Bomber Command Crews and Aircraft Pictures’. Tony made reference to Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses. Volume 7: Operational Training Units 1940-1947 by WR Chorley (a series of books on Bomber Com...

I found the RNLI record referring to the Whitley bomber crash just off Saltcoats Harbour. It happened at 2:30am on 2nd May 1943. I believe that there may be an error in the RNLI record, as my Dad spoke to one of the survivors on the road bridge over Saltcoats railway station, after he had bailed out...

I asked my Dad to give a verbal account of his recollections of the WW2 Whitley Bomber crash off Saltcoats Harbour. Here is a link to it: https://youtu.be/DjtzUDZxsB0 I have got him on standby for more stories of old Saltcoats. Apart from his National Service time in the army, he has spent all of hi...

My Dad and my Grandfather (Papa) heard shouting in the early hours (approx. 1am). It was a warm and still night. They got up out of bed, and went out to see what was happening. My Granny wasn’t at home as she was working nightshift at Ardeer. As they were crossing the road bridge at Saltcoats railwa...