Rocks in the Clouds

This title completes the latest from Eddie Doylerush's covering high ground aircraft crashes in Wales, following on his previous successful books No Landing Place (1985), Fallen Eagles (1990) and No Landing Place 2 (1999). During the last war many Allied and Axis aircraft came to grief over Wales. With high mountains often wreathed in mist across Wales, many pilots lost their bearings and met their aircraft met their fate on these peaks. The area covered by this volume is roughly that south of the latitude of Brecon, which from East to West includes the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons, the Black Mountain, south of Llandovery and the Presceli Hills in the west.

Only one Luftwaffe aircraft landed in this area, a Heinkel 111 which struck barrage balloon cables at Newport, with only the pilot, Oblt. Harry Wappler surviving. He later escaped from prison camp and stole a RAF aircraft. His remarkable story is told by historian Hugh Trivett. Elsewhere, a Dornier 217 was shot down by RAF fighters off Port Eynon during the last major raid on Swansea in February 1943. Years later historian and diver, Steve Jones, found pieces of the wreckage on the beach at low water and followed the trail into deep water where he located the main site. He traced relatives of the pilot and visited them in Germany.

These and many other fascinating stories are told in the book and many interesting crash sites are visited. The book incorporates appendices which include a full list of the high ground military losses and memorials to those who perished, as well as a bibliography.