Wellington Bomber

On New Year’s Eve 1940, Wellington bomber N2980 “R for Robert” ditched on Loch Ness during a training flight.
The aircraft was flying near Fort Augustus when it encountered heavy snow showers over the Monadhliath Mountains. After an engine failed, the crew were ordered to bale out. Six trainee navigators parachuted from the plane, but sadly rear Gunner, Sgt. J.S. Fensome lost his life when his parachute failed to open.
Luckily, the pilot, Squadron Leader David Marwood-Elton, with co-pilot Pilot Officer J.F. Slatter spotted Loch Ness and ditched successfully. They launched a dinghy from its wing compartment and paddled ashore where they hitched a lift from a lorry in time to catch the Inverness Hogmanay Celebration.
In 1976, side-scan sonar surveys by Marty Klein revealed a twin-engine aircraft. In 1978, Robin Holmes of Heriot Watt University identified it as a Wellington bomber by remote operated submersible (ROV), which was confirmed the next year by a Royal Navy diving team as serial number N2980. 
In 1981, The Loch Ness and Morar Project assisted Holmes in a full ROV survey of the wreck with their vessel John Murray, now in The Loch Ness Experience. The aircraft was found to be vandalised, and the Loch Ness Wellington Association was formed to recover it. Following a successful recovery operation in 1985, the bomber was brought to the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge which had been the wartime factory where it had been built.
Remarkably, after spending 45 years underwater, the aircraft was in excellent condition. Although more than 11,000 Wellington bombers were built, N2980 “R for Robert” is the only known surviving example of one that saw active service during the Second World War, having completed 14 missions and taken part in the 1939 Battle of the Heligoland Bight. (307-294)