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Report on Irish Law and Box Law
18 May 2008
(8364 views)
Aircraft crash sites
Irish Law and Box Law
Kilbirnie/Largs Hills
Sunday 19th May 2008
When I emailed the club members asking if anyone wanted to out a walk I was surprised with 4 offers. Steve and Elaina were heading up Beinn Bhuidhe, Mark was going to New Cumnock, Michael B suggested Dailly and Michael N wanted to do a recce up Irish Law and onto Box Law for his D of E group.
So Michael N won the day and Michael B, Lydia and Jim joined us.
Yesterday?s weather was awful for Mark, Kevin and friends who had a soaking wet day on Arran. First thing this morning Mark was quick to text me asking why we got the good weather! The sun was shining and it was a glorious day.
We met at Blairpark at the end of the Muirhead Reservoir on the Largs / Kilbirnie Road at 11am. I left my car in Largs as that?s where we would be heading. We walked along the path towards Howcraig then cross country to the first crash site just off Irish Law.
Date: Crashed 21 April 1948
Type: B.E.A. Viking G-AIVE
Location: Irish Law
Grid ref: 63 NS 260593
The four crew and sixteen passengers had a miraculous escape as the fuselage exploded shortly after aircraft came to rest.
We then went to Box Law to our second crash site. On route Michael B nearly stood on a skylark which flew out from it's nest in the mossy undergrowth. We were unsure whether the bird was hurt or pretending as it fluttered away. On inspection we found a perfectly formed nest with 4 small brown eggs. Let's hope it found it's way back to incubate it's brood.
Date: Crashed 3 June 1958
Type: Devon VP969 (45 Group R.A.F.). Personal aircraft of Air Marshal Sir Richard Jordan c-in--c Maintenance Command.
Location: Box Law
Grid ref: 63 NS 258607
This aircraft flew onto box Law but there was no record of casualties. Fuselage shattered, but substantial remains, including virtually undamaged wings, can be seen on site.
Our next find was the geocache just off the summit of Box Law. This cache hadn?t been found for over a year and was still intact.
Now everything was going according to plan until now when we headed down Greeto Water instead of Gogo Water. Michael N fell in on one of the river crossings and unfortunately Lydia and I missed the laugh as we were trailing behind. It is not surprising that Michael fell in, as he is rather accident-prone. After tramping about for hours through the heather, we arrived back at my car at 5:30pm and we all had a good day.
Irene Cahill
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