The Black Mountain

Setting out with a prime objective to locate the known aircraft crash sites had proved elusive in the past. This particular attempt was to eventually last well into the early evening before Mike, Steve and Richard discovered the remains of a World War II Wellington Bomber and Vampire Jet, which were both really well camouflaged against the surrounding Carmarthenshire Fan.



After a trek over Fan Hir, which means 'long peak' in English, whose flat summit is just over 760m above sea level, the intrepid trio arrived at Carreg Goch where the debris of a Vickers Wellington Bomber MF-509 had crashed into the southwest slope during a night-training mission on 20th November 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. The entire Canadian crew on board the bomber were killed in the crash:
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 later interred with full military honours in Blacon Cemetery, Chester.

After the crash, a memorial plaque was fixed to the nose wheel strut of the bomber. However, this was later removed by treasure hunters, so a permanent stone memorial was built on the site. Memorial services have often taken place on the site and hikers leave flowers, notes and other mementos.



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

Up until 2005 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. In an effort to identify one of the crew, 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 co-operation between the people of the 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.



On 9th October 1953, John Baldock, the Pilot Officer of the Vampire Jet VZ106, who was serving at RAF Pembrey was killed when he crashed on the west slope of Fan Hir, which was the second crash site visited. He was just 21 years old, and is buried at Pembrey.



After leaving the crash site the next peak visited was Fan Brycheiniog (at 802m) which is the highest point in the western Black Mountain region.



Llyn y Fan Fawr ('lake of the big peak') is located to the east of the summit. The lake is enclosed within a rock hollow formed as a result of glacial action during the ice ages. It is drained by a stream known as Nant y Llyn ('stream of the lake'), which feeds the River Tawe.