Wreck of a Catalina, used by the RAF during WW2 and operating from Oban. On the night of 12th May 1944 the plane took off with nine crew on board for a training exercise. They were due to fly over the nearby point of Barra Head, but lost their way and found themselves well off their intended course. The pilot tried in vain to gain altitude and the plane crashed into the side of the nearby hill Heishavel Beag. Three of the crew were killed, with six surviving the crash.
Remains of a German Heinkel, wrecked during WW II. The aircraft was attacked by two British Hurricanes on 17.01.1974. The pilot, Lieutenant Karl Heinz Thurz, was forced to land here in Fair Isle. The plane ploughed through a stone wall and caught fire. Two of the five crewmen were found dead, the three surviving were held and picked up by Lerwick lifeboat several days later.
This C-123K Provider N4410F was bought by Corporate Air Services, which was working on behalf of the CIA. The airplane was re-registered HPF821. In 1986 HPF821 was used on a U.S. government-sponsored covert resupply program for the Contras in Nicaragua. On October 5, 1986 the flight departed San Salvador-Ilopango Airport loaded with 70 Soviet-made AK-47 rifles and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, rocket grenades and other supplies. It flew along the Nicaraguan coastline and entered Nicaraguan airspace near the Costa Rican border. Nearing San Carlos, the plane descended to 2500 feet while preparing to drop off its cargo. At that moment the Provider was shot down by a Sandinista soldier using a SA-7 missile. Now preserved as a restaurant in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.
