LN553

Wellington Mk X LN553 of No. 1 Air Gunners School took off from RAF Pembrey at 13:50 on 6 January 1945 for a cine-gun exercise. After a heavy landing it was sent round again; climbing to 400–500 ft it retracted the undercarriage, turned sharply to port, fell into a spin and dived into the Gwendraeth marshes near the airfield at about 15:00. Six of the seven crew were killed — Carmarthenshire’s worst air disaster of the war. The crash was unseen from the control tower until a returning pupil raised the alarm; rescuers crossed nearly a mile of mud and creeks to reach the wreck and found one survivor still trapped in the tail. Four bodies were recovered by daybreak and the last two only after dark the following day. The inquiry concluded the flaps had retracted too suddenly, throwing the aircraft into an unrecoverable nose-down attitude. A small plaque now stands near the site; one recovered engine is displayed at an industrial museum near Kidwelly.