Remembrance

The wooden post in this blip is a memorial to the crew of a German Junkers Ju 88A-14 bomber who were all killed when it crashed into Hare Hill in the Pentlands near Edinburgh on 25th March 1943. A plaque on the post gives the names of the four dead crew:

Horst Bluhm (age 23)
Willi Euler (age 21)
Fritz Forster (age 30)
Heinz Kristall (age 21)

They were on a night-bombing mission to Leith docks near Edinburgh. It is unclear what went wrong but they ended up circling a few times over farmland near Balerno, well away from Edinburgh, to dump their bomb load. As they turned for home they hit Hare Hill at an altitude of only 400m.

Jonathan and I thought a run to revisit this rather sad site during remembrance week would be appropriate. It is a reasonably remote, attractive but bleak place.

Strangely, as we were leaving the site, a light plane appeared and several times circled low over the farmland below, as they might have in 1943. It then flew low, directly over us, before turning sharply and heading off into the distance. Coincidence, or was someone else paying their respects as well?

More information about this site and the crew can be seen HERE and HERE