The B-29 44-62276 OF THE 301 st Bomb Group which formed part of the 15th US Air Force, had left RAF Scampton,Lincolnshire

on the morning of 17th January 1949,for a return trip to the

units airfield at Smoky Hill AFB, Salina,Kansas.

On board the Superfortress were 20 crew & passengers, who were

to be accompanied that day by a 2nd B-29 also returning to the

American base.

It was a very cold morning as the airmen boarded their aircraft

for the last time. The route would take them via Scotland to

Keflavik in Iceland,where there would be a short stop for some

supplies & refuelling, conditions that day were varied across

the British Isles, with a lot of scattered cloud about, but even

worse was that freezing tempretures would cause heavy icing on

the wings and make control surfaces heavy and unstable.

Whilst over the area of Strathclyde,Western Scotland,the two B-29s

began to experience problems with icing, Captain Donald E.Riggs,

pilot of the other B-29 in the flight, decided that conditions

were too bad and made a turn to head back to Scampton, it is not

certain what happened next, but the pilot of `62276` 1/Lt Sheldon

C.Craigmyle, crashed the B-29 into a hillside at Succoth Glen,Nr

Lochgoilhead,Argyl, at 09.50 hrs, the aircraft immediately burst

into flames and all 20 on board perished.

The inquiry into the crash was unable to determain the exact cause,

but expressed that adverse weather and heavy icing was to be a

contributory factor in the loss of this aircraft.