MF-509

The MF-509 was a Vickers Wellington bomber which crashed into the southwest slope of Carreg Goch in the Brecon Beacons, Wales during a night-training mission on November 20, 1944. Although the subsequent RAF report attributed the crash to crew error, it is thought more likely to have been caused by carburetor icing in the Wellington's starboard engine.Fact|date=March 2008 The entire Canadian crew on board the bomber was killed: Pilot Sgt Charles Hamel, Navigator Sgt Jules Robert Rene Villeneuve, Bomb Aimer F/Off William Joseph Allison, W/Op/Air Gunner Sgt Joseph Paul Ernest Burke, Air Gunner Sgt Arthur Grouix, and Air Gunner Sgt Gerard Dusablon. They were interred with full military honours in Blacon Cemetery, Chester, England.

The crew, assigned to the No. 22 Operational Training Unit, were on their penultimate training flight before moving on to the RCAF "Alouette" squadron. After the crash, a memorial plaque was affixed to the nose wheel strut of the bomber. This, however, was later removed by treasure hunters, so a more permanent stone memorial was built on the site. Since then, services have taken place there and hikers have left flowers, notes and other mementos. The site lies near Ynyswen, within the Brecon Beacons National Park, at an altitude of 520 meters on Carreg Goch's southwest slope.

During the 1990s, efforts were made to remove the plane wreckage from the mountain, but were abandoned in the face of public outcry.

The Canadian families of the crew lost in the crash were never aware of its circumstances or location, nor of the existence of the memorial on Carreg Goch. Until 2005, when, in an effort to identify him, a photo of an airman retrieved from the crash site in November 1944 was circulated on the Internet, the families believed that the plane had been lost in England. As a result of this search and cooperation between the people of Swansea Valley and McGill University in Montreal, the families were made aware of the memorial and the plane's specific fate for the first time.

In May 2006, a climb to the site was undertaken to mark the connection of the memorial to the Canadian families. Later that year, in November, McGill University mounted a display in downtown Montreal detailing MF-509's story.

Links

* [http://mf509.blogspot.com/ Friends of MF-509 Blog]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8w1rzlRaT0 Youtube Video Tribute]
* [http://mcgillremembers.mcgill.ca/mf509/mf509.html Wellington Bomber MF-509 History]

References

*McGill University Press
*Freeway Productions
*Youtube Channel Rhyshuw1
*Brecon Beacons National Park