On Christmas Eve, 24th December 1944 Grumman Wildcat JV482 crashed in Portmore Lough, Co. Antrim. 20-year-old Royal Navy Pilot Sub-Lieutenant Peter Lock had got into trouble soon after taking off from RAF Long Kesh, Co. Down.
While on a dive-bombing practice run, one of the Wildcat’s engine’s exploded. The quick-thinking Londoner brought it down in Portmore Lough, Co. Antrim as flames and smoke poured from the craft. Landing a burning plane full of full in a field would likely have been a fatal move.
Lock survived the crash and a group of locals took a small boat out to rescue the Royal Naval airman. On reaching the shore, rescuers discovered the Pilot was in an officer’s uniform beneath his flying suit. He was on his way to attend a Christmas Eve Mess Dinner. He made it and received several jibes over the yellow stains over his jacket, caused by discharge from the life jacket when he hit the water.
This was Christmas Eve and the water was very cold. People rowed out and got me ashore. In the Navy, there’s a tradition of officers serving dinner to the men on Christmas Eve and the gesture is reciprocated on Christmas Day.
Peter Lock
After the Second World War, Peter Lock made many more visits to Northern Ireland. On one of those trips, he met Seamus Kane who raised the alarm when he watched the Wildcat crash as a young schoolboy.
We saw smoke pouring from the engine of the plane…and it just went into the lough, like a duck landing on water. I ran into the house and my sister was there putting up holly and my two brothers were also there. They went outside and saw the pilot climbing out onto the tail of the plane. So they drove around to the old church graveyard and met up with the lough caretaker and together they got into a boat and went out to rescue him.
Seamus Kane – Interviewed by BBC Northern Ireland – 24th December 2019.
The stricken Grumman Wildcat remained in Portmore Lough, Co. Antrim until 1984 when a British Army helicopter lifted it from the mud. Ulster Sub Aqua Club, Heyn Group Belfast, Army Air Corps, and other organisations facilitated the recovery. Ulster Aviation Society has been rebuilding the plane after it became the first aircraft in its collection. Weather and wildlife took their toll on the plane and an added complication is the lack of any written plans or diagrams from US manufacturers.
Portmore Lough is now a RSPB wildlife reserve. Sub-Lieutenant Peter Lock died on 6th January 2017.