Ian Hunter - July '08
There is an excellent paperback "Covering the approaches" by John Quinn andAlan Reilly--- Limavady and Ballykelly's role in the Battle of the Atlantic. Published by Impact Printing [Coleraine] 8 Diamond Arcade, Coleraine. BT52 1DE.

This book comprehensively covers all the wartime fatalities including those mentioned above.

I spent the first eighteen years of my life in the Roe valley and remember seeing the remains of a wartime aircraft in Lough Foyle off the topwnland of Ballymacran.

DAVID HARVEY - May '07
Looking for help. Trying to locate the site of a crash 5/5/43 of a Wellington lb241 from 7otu from Aghanloo that crashed almost immediately after takeoff onto the Drenagh estate killing all 6 crew on board, 5 were rafvr and 1 raf (regular).
The bodies of 5 were returned to uk for burial and 1 - Sgt Ronald Walker Anderson (pilot) was buried in Drumachose coi Church Limavady.
today we - myself and members of a local rafa branch laid a wreath on the grave to commemorate the 64th anniversary, we have a memorial with a plaque bearing the crew names to erect when we get the site pinpointed.
No reason was given officially for the crash but relatives in UK claim it was "sabotaged by agents of the south", other sources report that at least 3 airtcraft that crashed into Benevenagh mountain were the victims of sabotage - sugar in the petrol is the most popular theory, another reports "german agents" in a local pub in Limavady - Henry's (?) in Catherine street, almost as if it were common knowledge.
I hope to follow this search up with the crash at Dickeys Glen on the Bolea rd in July 1943.
If any one can help me sourch local maps of this period especially maps of the airfield I hope to be able to find wreck sites and memorials on it.

Damian Connor - Aug '06
I came across a story of a German gentleman asking for information about Aghanloo airfield. He was researching his family history.
Apparently his father had been the captain of a u-boat which was sunk by a plane from Limavady airfield.
Would anyone have any ideas on how I could get information on this story.

J.W. Noble - July '05
I'm disappointed that you have not mentioned the young ladies who flew with Air Transport Command flying LIBERATORS from a transit airfield in Canada to Limavady. I was stationed at COLERAINE in the early days of the war.

Catherine Harwood - May 05
Dear All,
Ballykelly has been in my soul for nearly sixty years! A young Australian, trained in Canada and the Bahamas, left me behind in Canada to await his return. He died with his mates on 29th June, 1944, and is buried in the Tamlaght Finlagan Church of Ireland Churchyard.
My late husband was stationed in Ballykelly with 86 Squadron flying Liberators on Coastal Command. His log book shows they were doing anti-sub and convoy work in around Reykavic and into the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian fiords. In 1984 a former crew member of his from Australia came to Canada on his way to UK and we had a surprising recall of the crash into the mountain on the 19th June, 1944. I had the feeling at that time that my husband's aircraft was ready to follow on. His log book shows nothing for that date.

Deirdre Donnelly - Feb '05
I've been most interested reading about Limavady during WW2 - I'm gathering memories and stories rom the North West as part of the BBC Peoples War project and would be very interested in talking to anyone with personal or family memories of the Limavady area during the war - please contact me if you have or know anyone I should talk to so that their stories can become part of our BBC Peoples War Archive.

Brian Cooper - December '04
Dear Ruth,

Thanks for the update, I really can't believe that it has been over a year since we visited the area.

I have printed off your comments to show my dad as I am sure that he will be interested to hear of more news concerning that night in 1943.

My dad's brother was in the Wellington that came down in the Loch and one of John Quinn's diving contacts reckons that the aircraft is still down there and may be a potential future diving target once he has finished cataloguing an American Flying Fortress in the vicinity.

Regards, Brian.

Ruth McIlmoyle - April '04
Dear Brian,
I am writing this on behalf of my dad who was born on what became Aghanloo Airfield, some of which was built on his father's land. He asks me to tell you that there is no townland called Aghanloo - this is the name of the parish. It was not used by the airmen who called the airfield Limavady.

By the way, Aghanloo was not on a boggy area as has been suggested. Planes were using the airfield while the land was still being used for agriculture, hence perhaps giving rise to the notion of bog. It was built on solid gravel.

The 3 Wellingtons you mention as having come down one night were from a flight of 5, of which only 1 came back. Number 3 landing on Downhill Strand, with number 4 crashing in Kent. Only 1 actually crashed on Binevenagh, taking the roof off a house. The crew all escaped. The one where all were lost came into Loughermore Mountain on the opposite side of the valley. The cause of the crashes was not the mountains as such, but icing of the aerilons; the planes did not have de-icers. Most of the casualties were with Whitleys, through sugar having been put in the fuel tanks, so reducing the octane value of the petrol.

My father saw the Loughermore tragedy. The plane was actually on fire before it came down. May I at this late stage sympathise with you and your family. I would be happy to keep contact with you.

Sincerely, Ruth McIlmoyle, for Leslie McIlmoyle

Brian Cooper
Just come across this site via Google.... My dad's brother, Jim, was one of those airmen who was killed in early 1943 when three aircraft crashed on the same day. My dad, now 81, has never visited the area, so I am bringing him and my mum over during the weekend 18th - 22nd September 2003 to visit. I am intrigued to see that Your Place & mine contributor is still able to remember this incident and I wonder if I could ask for any contact details of this indivdual. It would be great if my dad could meet this person as he or his parents never really got any information from the Air Ministry at the time.

Brian Willis
I am the person who researched and wrote the article about Aghanloo Airfield. I will be contacting you via your email address within the next week or so. In the meantime some thoughts to be going on with: - Have you/Dad read "Wings over the Foyle" by John Quinn? Sadly now out of print. But if you live in Northern Ireland there are copies of it in the following libraries: - L'Derry Central, Larne, Limavady, Strathfoyle and Waterside L'Derry. This book is a well-researched history of that airfield with lots of names, photos, plans of the runways and buildings etc. Hopefully I will be able to get your father to meet with one or two people who were stationed there during the war. Also I will be able to show you the pub where many of the aircrew spent their leisure time. This pub has at least one large wartime photo taken on the base of perhaps 80 airmen posing for the photographer. I am pretty certain I will also be able to get permission for you to visit the remains of the control tower etc. Will be in touch.

your place and mine contributor
As a Limavady man myself which pub is it the airmen gathered and where there is a photograph still on display?

Brian Willis
Hello Limavady Man. The pub I mentioned is the Alexander Arms in the middle of the town. They have several photos there of RAF personnel taken during WWII but these are not on public display so you would have to ask to see them. I hope I don't instigate a rush of requests on that place now. I have since discovered from someone who was stationed at Aghanloo that the Alexander Arms was an officers-only hostelry and there was a notice on the front door reading "Out of bounds to other ranks". The other ranks apparently congregated in any of the other local pubs in the area. My turn to ask you a question now. As you see from the above letters there is an elderly man coming over to see where his brother crashed and died on Binevenagh in 1943. I have set up several meetings for him but it would be nice if he could be shown the exact spot of the crash. I am contacting the aircraft museum people at Langford Lodge for assistance on this but in the meantime, being a Limavady person yourself, do you happen to know if the crash sites on that mountain are marked in any way with perhaps commemorative stones?

your place and mine contributor
Dear Brian. Thank you for your reply funny enough Iwas in the alexander arms at the weekend but i did not think to enquire if they had some old airforce photos but will the next time as i know the proprietor quite well, I thought there was a good chance the corner bar might have some photos as it has a few old black and white snaps from the past adorning its walls. my father and a few of his friends are still around the town and they lived through the war so i will ask them if they have any recollections of memorials to where the planes came down anyway thats it for now brian by the way my name is gary smyth from killane road but live and work in belfast now.

Another your place and mine contributor
Dear Brian, Did that man arrive over from England to pay his respects for his lost brother. How did his trip turn out ?

Brian Cooper
Hi, in reply to your question, yes I did bring my father and mother over to visit the airfield where he brother, Jim, was stationed before he was killed on 2nd Jan 1943. John Quinn very kindly took a day off work to show us all around the airfield, the local cemeteries and the Alexander Arms. We all had a really great time - the whole area is stunning and we will certainly be coming back!