During the Second World War, Kerry was the location for a number of both Allied forces and German air crashes, but one less well-known one occurred on the Blasket Island of Inis Mhic Oileáin (Inishvickillaune) on November 25th, 1940.
Wreckage from the BV 138 flying boat, which crashed with five Germans on board, was spotted on the island by artist Maria Simonds Gooding during her first visit there in 1968 – some time before the “inis” was bought by taoiseach Charles Haughey – and she took a propeller home afterwards.
By pure coincidence, she not only met one of the surviving pilots and his colleague some years later but also heard of his epic rescue by one of the Blasket Islanders. She also heard how the Germans shot one sheep after they had crash-landed on Inis Mhic Oileáin, and pinned its fleece to the door of one of the island cottages as a mark of thanks.
In 2005, the propeller she retrieved was presented to Col. Paul Fry of the Air Corps, as she recalls in her interview for Wavelengths below.