The beauty of the Welsh mountains and hills has never been in dispute, however it does hold some dark secrets of lives taken before their time.  The mountains appetite was never so ferocious than in the bleak war years of WW2.

June 8TH 1945, Boeing B-17G 44-8639, of 511 Bomb squadron, 351st Bomb group.  In June 1994 a Mrs Muriel Andrew from Cambridge, was out walking enjoying the air on the last day of her holiday in Barmouth Wales.  She took her son and their dog “Blackey” for the lovely walk toward the estuary.  There was a slight urgency in their pace as the air smelt dank and cloying, a sure sign of a famous Welsh electrical storm was heading their way.

“Blackey” suddenly froze to the spot his ears erect his tail firmly between his legs I’ll quote the good ladies testament if I may   ”Our dog didn’t bark but was very troubled by something, I felt suddenly cold all over, the birds which had been very vocal stopped their song.  Blackey stared left and at that precise moment a large grey something dropped from below the cloud base, I’m no expert on aeroplanes but i swear it was a WW2 bomber all in grey with propellers turning, however it was silent not a noise was heard! then the something disappeared behind a range of trees and didn’t re-appear.  As soon as it was gone the birds began singing in the late evening dusk”

Mrs Andrews was so taken by this experience she wrote to a famed air crash investigator Mr Edward Doylerush.  The investigator confirmed there was a tragic air crash in that very vicinity on June 8TH 1945.

Following the end of WW2 in Europe hundreds of American airmen were flown home in transport aircraft and some in bombers such as the B-17G.  They were routed to Anglesey were an R.A.F. base was located they would land and be re-fuelled for their long journey home. 

On the morning of June 8TH 1945 Boeing B-17G 44-8639 took off from Polebrook in Northamptonshire the chosen pilot was 1st Lieutenant Howard R Hibbard he carried his normal crew of 9 airman plus 10 more as passengers, an easy load to lift for the powerful B-17.  Upon reaching the coast of North Wales Lieutenant Hibbard descended to 900ft to clear the 10/10s cloud cover, unsure of his exact position he radio for a QDM [a course to steer] for the R.A.F. refuelling base.  The time was 08.17 the course was duely given.  For some un-known reason the pilot turned the B-17 on a reciprocal heading of 230 degrees.