ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

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wellparkno9
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ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by wellparkno9 »

Hi, the other night I met a guy in the pub and he was on about a Wellington or a Lancaster bomber that crashed just off the harbour during the war.I've never heard of this, but this guy says he has seen divers bringing up bullets and parts of the plane.Any one know anything of this?
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little plum
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by little plum »

That's a new one on me Sam, used to talk to divers up and down the coast while out fishing. The only one that I can recall being mentioned by divers was the "Catalina" (sp) not far from the slipway on Millport.?
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by Hughie »

Hi Sam,
That's interesting, If it happened a fair bit out from the harbour during the night it might not have been generally known, and such occurrences were suppressed during wartime anyway. Still, you'd imagine the story would have surfaced (no pun intended) after the war.
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by Penny Tray »

Sam,

This newspaper article would suggest you are right! The fact that the police could hear a cry for help and got a local fisherman from his bed to effect a rescue backs up the notion that it was close to the harbour.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ig ... mber&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by wellparkno9 »

Thanks for that P.T. and heres me thinking the guy was talking rubbish, Sam.
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by frank quinn »

just a quickie,
I thought there was a "Sub" sunk just outside
Ardrossan harbour.This I remember from years ago but
could be a "red herring" just like the Fighter jet that was
supposed to have crashed on Irvine Bar in the fifties. ???
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by Penny Tray »

Frank,

The German submarine U33 was sunk in the Firth of Clyde on 12 February 1940 after engaging HMS Gleaner. The location is always given as off Arran as opposed to off Ardrossan - 55 degrees, 25 minutes N - 5 degrees 07 minutes W [one of the marininers might be able to pinpoint this location for us]. There were 17 German surviviors. I wonder if they were landed at Ardrossan?
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by georgersweir »

Penny Tray wrote:...The location is always given as off Arran as opposed to off Ardrossan - 55 degrees, 25 minutes N - 5 degrees 07 minutes W [one of the marininers might be able to pinpoint this location for us]...
If I've got it right, these co-ordinates are indicated by the green arrow in the map below (fairly close to Girvan).

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brvhrtjimmy
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by brvhrtjimmy »

the sub u33 lies off ailsa craig i replied to an earlier post about this sub
http://www.threetowners.net/forum/viewt ... ner#p76767
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by georgersweir »

brvhrtjimmy wrote:the sub u33 lies off ailsa craig ...
James, you are correct. My earlier map did not show Ailsa Craig. On the map below, the yellow marker shows the location of Ailsa Craig and the green arrow shows the map reference for the sinking of the submarine.

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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by maverick173 »

there was a bomber went down off saltcoats harbour all were killed except the rear gunner 2 men from saltcoats went out in a rowing boat and rescued him one of the men was davie sheddon a coastal fisherman they received £1 each for their heroism i met davie and he showed me the newspaper clippings also old bowling alley was a cartographers meking charts for the navy
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Re: ww2 bomber in Saltcoats harbour

Post by tapnagol »

Frank Quinn intimates a story that a fighter jet crashed near Irvin bar in the fifties. I recall that I was travelling on a bus from Saltcoats to Kilmarnock on a Saturday PM in the late fifties (can't be more precise) when I saw ,between Dreghorn and Springside down about the railway line, lots of activity Police Fire Ambulance etc. It was reported that a Vamplre jet had indeed crash landed at this location . I don't remember if this was verified.
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