Date:	Monday 9 December 1940
Time:	03:12
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk Ic
Owner/operator:	115 Sqn RAF
Registration:	T2520
MSN:	KO-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Blaen Dyffrya quarries (Cefn-y-strad) near Tredegar, Wales -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Marham, Norfolk (KNF/EGYM)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The Wellington was assigned to 115 Squadron at RAF Marham. It had taken part in a bombing raid on Bordeaux and, in bad weather during its return, became separated and lost. Believing they were over East Anglia, the plane had begun its slow descent but flew into the rocky face of Cefn yr Ystad close to the summit. The crew were killed. Small pieces of wreckage lie amongst the rocks close to the summit and there is still evidence of the fire that engulfed the crashed plane.

The aircraft took off from Downham Market. On return from Bordeaux, the aircraft radioed Tangmere saying that it was descending believing that it was over Norfolk. A little after 3am on 9/12/1940, the Wellington struck rocks close to the summit and burst into flames. Much of the metal was fused together as a result. Signs of the fire can still be seen and small pieces of wreckage remain amongst the rocks.

The 9 Wellingtons which set off from RAF Marham at 17:15hrs were tasked to head for Bordeaux to drop 8 tons of bombs over the area, estimated time of return 01:45hr on 9th December 1940. Seven aircraft made it back to base, the last was R1221 at 02:05 hours. Two others had landed at Boscombe Down and at Brackley.

A report from the direction finding station at Tangmere stated that T2520 call sign 'A' had made radio contact and reported that they were reducing height to conserve fuel. At 03:12 hrs the Wellington struck the ground. Quarry workers, arriving for work, saw a fire on the hillside but could only recover the bodies of the crew and take them down to the quarry buildings for collection by the authorities.

There is a memorial cairn at the crash site. The crash site lies in an area of rocks to the east of the summit of Garnn Felen, the aircraft needed to be only a few metres higher to have cleared the summit and was probably flying on a northerly heading at the time of the impact. The remains of the aircraft comprise some small fragments of airframe, none longer than 0.4 metres, and lumps of melted aluminium, all of which lie within 10 metres of the memorial cairn at the site. The rocks around the cairn have clearly been affected by the heat of the fire which followed the crash, and there are others to the south which have been disturbed and may represent the first point of impact. The cairn measures 2 metres diameter by 1 metre high and has two wooden crosses set in it with plaques which respectively read:
'Wellington T2520 crashed here 10/12/1940. All were killed' and ‘In memory of the crew of T2520. Rest in Peace.' All six crew were killed:

P/O A.Tindall (43294)
Sgt R.Brown RNZAF (40913)
Sgt S.G Howard (966313)
Sgt D.Mills (748521)
Sgt H.D Ellis (523372)
Sgt D.E Wallace (905336)

1. http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/.au/nz-serials/nzwellington.htm
2. http://www.cpat.org.uk/resource/reports/cpat1249.pdf
3. Brecon Beacons National Park, 1995, Identification Guide Aircraft Crashes in the National Park, ID 15
4. Durham P and Jones, D, 1982, Warplane Wrecks of South Wales and the Marches, p. 13-14
5. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.breconbeacons.org/wellington-bombe]

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

18 May 1942	X3644	115 Sqn RAF	5	NE of Pellworm Island		w/o
22 July 1942	X3726	115 Sqn RAF	1	near the Rhein (Rhine) river at Duisburg; Nordrhein-Westfalen		w/o
29 August 1942	X3647	115 Sqn RAF	4	Saint-Lambert-et-Mont-de-Jeux - Attigny; Ardennes		w/o
2 October 1942	BK271	115 Sqn RAF	5	near Haldern, Rees, Nordrhein-Westfalen		w/o
3 December 1942	BK338	115 Sqn RAF	5	Monzernheim, Rheinland-Pfalz		w/o

The memorial cairn. Wreckage pool at the edge of the area.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Apr-2016 10:59	ORD	Added
18-Apr-2017 23:36	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
23-Dec-2017 16:31	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
28-Dec-2017 21:01	Davies 62	Updated [Photo, ]
28-Oct-2018 15:42	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]