Date:	Sunday 17 August 1941
Time:	21:00
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk 1c
Owner/operator:	21 OTU RAF
Registration:	R1068
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ffridd Rhos-fach, Pennal, Gywnedd, Wales -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire
Destination airport:	RAF Moreton-in-the-Marsh

Narrative:
21 OTU RAF was one of the units training crews on the Wellington. On board was a trainee crew but with an experienced navigator. Their mission for this op' was a day time nav'Ex/cross country and their route was from Moreton in Gloucestershire, NW out over mid Wales to the Irish Sea and back, a fairly straight forward flight. During the briefings all crews were instructed NOT to drop through cloud without first confirmation of their location and the terrain below! Being told by using black humour of how over Wales, the clouds have hard centres.

Unfortunately unknown to the crew, due to cloud and an unexpected shift in wind direction and speed, they veered off course, then at the allotted time en-route they saw a wide water feature about three miles off to port, which they mistook the River Dovey for the coast. No sooner had they glimpsed the water and before realising it wasn’t the sea, they entered cloud. But sadly, confident the water they saw, along with the timing the Wellington flew on gradually losing height to the pre-arranged height over water of 1000ft, ahead lay the high mountain of Ffridd Rhosfach at around 1,448 feet.

The people of Pennal were going about their business for a typical Thursday, when above their heads and hidden in the cloud and grey sky, the sound of a twin engine aircraft, then heard it gradually fade to the north before the sickening, unmistakable sound of a distant impact and explosion.

Rumours followed the following day of how one of the farmers had happened upon the unmistakable wreck of a large plane with the grisly remains of the crew within the smouldering wreckage. Before anything could be done, the newly formed RAF Mountain Rescue teams based at RAF Llandrog arrived and recovered the bodies, bringing them down to lay within the village hall until the recovery crews came.

Crew:
Sgt Herbert George Mole 27yo 1375799. RAFVR. Pilot. Killed ♤.
Sgt James Francis Paul Stuart 21yo R/62632. RCAF. 2nd Pilot. Killed ♡.
P/O George Joyce Mathews 100059 RAFVR. Obs. Killed ◇.
Sgt John Francis Moore 21yo 1252146. RAFVR. W/Op A/G. Killed ♧.
Sgt Allen Jackets 21yo 994357 RAFVR. W/Op A/G. Killed ☆.
Sgt George Hewison 30yo 1379096 RAFVR. A/G. Killed ¤

Buried:
♤ East London Cemetery Plaistow Square 36 St Peter's Guild plot. Grave 31009.
♡ Twyn Cemetery. Class 2. Row 7. Grave 341.
◇ Cottesmore (St Nicholas) Churchyard extension. Compt' 1. Grave 24.
♧ Twyn Cemetery. Class 2. Row 7. Grave 340.
☆ Hull Eastern cemetery. Compt' 155. Grave 78.
¤ Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (St Johns Westgate and Elswick) cemetery. Section 0. New ground. Grave 89.
Wreckage:
Small fragments of wreckage remain; mainly airframe and exploded cartridge cases. The remains of this aircraft are designated as a Protected Place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Beside the war memorial, and built into the church wall. A memorial to the crew can be seen in the village of Pennal.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britian, 1980 p.5)
2. National Archivres (PRO Kew) File AIR81/8377: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16924219
3. https://ww1.wales/other-counties/merionethshire-memorials/pennal-vickers-wellington-r1068-memorial/
4. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2721697/HERBERT%20GEORGE%20MOLE/
5. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2965070/JAMES%20FRANCIS%20PAUL%20STUART/
6. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2922163/GEORGE%20JOYCE%20MATTHEWS/
7. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2965066/JOHN%20FRANCIS%20MOORE/
8. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2402099/ALLEN%20JACKETS/
9. CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2810298/H%20G%20HEWISON/
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=R1068
11. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/canadaairwar/canadaairwar1941.pdf
12. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/25952/1/Full%20Thesis%20Doc_corrected.pdf
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennal

Taken at Pennal by self 1998.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Aug-2021 12:12	Davies 62	Added
01-Apr-2022 17:19	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
01-Apr-2022 17:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Narrative]
01-Apr-2022 19:13	Nepa	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]