24-05-2025
Stolen World War II landing gear returned to memorial after campaign
Landing gear from a World War II bomber stolen from a memorial to 15 RAF airmen killed in a crash in the Cooley Mountains in Co Louth in 1942 has been returned after a social media campaign by a local community group.
The heavy steel parts were removed from the site earlier this month and are believed to have been dragged down a mountain trail by a quad.
They were part of a memorial marking the site where a US Consolidated Liberator bomber crashed in dense fog with 19 crew onboard on 16 March 1942.
The plane had been en route from Egypt to England but got lost because of bad weather.
According to Sligo-based historian Dennis Burke, 13 of those on board were experienced pilots, navigators and wireless operators who were to crew other liberators to be flown back to North Africa for use in bombing missions.
Those on board were a mix of English, Scottish, American, Canadian and a lone New Zealander.
The plane circled Dublin several times and was then along the Irish coastline and over Dundalk, before banking left in dense fog towards the Cooley Mountains en route to an RAF base in Warrenpoint in Co Down.
The right wing of the huge aircraft hit a mound and crashed on Sliabh na gCloch, the mountain of stone, with 15 killed.
A letter from one of the four survivors to the family of one of those killed described the conditions as the worst he had experienced in three years of flying, saying "it was almost impossible to see our own wing tips."
Local people erected a small memorial plaque at the site in 1992 to mark the 50th anniversary of the crash.
Three years ago, a more substantial memorial was erected to mark the 80th anniversary.
It is mounted on a crankshaft from one of the four engines that powered the plane.
The memorial contains a model of the Consolidated Liberator bomber, items found at the site of the crash, and the names of those who were killed.
It was erected close to the landing gear that bore the three wheels of the aircraft which had laid for the past 83 years near where it exploded on impact.
The site was not widely known but over the years by word of mouth the wreckage had become a popular stopping point for walking groups and was regarded as part of the memorial.
However, earlier this month the three steel parts were removed. It is presumed the intention was to sell the high-grade steel for scrap.
Members of a local group that erected the memorial were alerted around 5pm on Thursday when one of them, Derek Roddy, took a friend for a walk up the mountain to visit the site.
Local Garda sergeant John Brady advised the group to take to social media to highlight the theft.
"We were told this local monument had been desecrated and removed from the mountain so the first thing we did was try and spread the word to get it back where it belongs," explains Michael Muckian of Cooley Peninsula Community Alert.
"People were angry because this is something that is so special to so many people and was removed from the mountain and to some people it's just scrap, but to us it's history. We had to let people know that if they saw this it had been stolen."
The tactic worked.
A Facebook post stating "Sacred Memorial Now At Risk" and containing the story of the crash, with an appeal for help in recovering the wreckage, was viewed by more than 420,000 people.
Within hours the group was able to establish that the landing gear had been stolen on either 13 or 14 August
At 7am on Friday morning, just 14 hours after the alert had been issued, Garda Sergeant John Brady phoned Derek Roddy and told him it had been found dumped at the bottom of the trail. They believe it was dragged down when stolen.
"It just shows you what social media and community spirit can do," said Michael Muckian.
"We were even contacted by people in America because there is a huge interest in the history of the Liberator aircraft and it is Memorial Weekend there; people were really shocked and angry.
"But it has ended well and there is a lot of relief."
Derek Roddy summoned family members and friends to remove the heavy parts yesterday afternoon.
They included his father Noel, a retired engineer who erected the first memorial with two friends and helped with the second.
"They wanted to set up a memorial so it would be remembered as a place where 15 young men passed away," he explains.
"Over many years every single piece of that plane disappeared from the mountain, except the landing gear which for some reason was left and it became a local go-to place and the most common question people in the area would get asked by walkers was how to get to the crash site.
"When the new memorial was erected three years ago the number of people visiting increased."
Derek is in regular contact with the 98-year-old sister of one of wireless operator Thomas Pattison, the crew member who wrote the letter describing what happened.
His words are included inscribed on the memorial. Derek has also helped relatives of two of the crew visit the site in recent years.
The plan is to return the landing gear to the crash site and to anchor it in a way that will mean it can never be removed again.
"You sort of got the sense like people see this as a sacred area now and a memorial to fifteen men, young men, who lost their lives and it was just lovely to see it being left at peace and being respected," Derek said.
Derek added that "it was really, really disheartening to see that someone was seeing these pieces as maybe just scrap to be sold."
"It is part of the history of this place. It's great to have the landing gear back and we have to make sure this can't happen again."
The group last night posted another message, this time thanking gardaí and everyone who shared information about the search.
"This was never about blame," the message states.
