It looked as if their video actually showed THE Loch Ness Monster. What they really discovered was almost unbelievable!

By John Clayton

Do you believe the Loch Ness Monster exists? Or, perhaps, do you feel the whole thing’s a tourist gimmick to boost seeing the sights in Scotland? “Nessie” has always intrigued me so when (a few years ago) the Scottish Tourist Board invited me on a travel media press trip to that country, I shouted “Aye.”

I was part of an 8 member group of US travel media, and we toured the country in a private bus. One of the first places we visited was the world famous Loch Ness. When it came in to view we stopped by a roadside plaque that detailed some of the history of the place where the Loch Ness Monster supposedly exists. I’m not quite sure what I’d expected to see, but frankly, I was underwhelmed.

PULSE author John Clayton by Scotland’s Loch Ness and the roadside plaque described in his article. A John Clayton photo — PULSE author John Clayton by Scotland’s Loch Ness and the roadside plaque described in his article. *A John Clayton photo*

However, my fascination with the Loch instantly increased when I looked much closer at the plaque, and noticed it included a photo a Wellington bomber. We’d stopped at the exact spot where it had crashed. The lack of information on the plaque about the crash, and the bomber, filled me with an intense curiosity, and I HAD to find out more about what the plaque did NOT say. If there is a so called “Beginning to the Monster Mystery” it began, for me, like this.

As Squadron Leader Marlwood-Elton and his co-pilot Pilot officer Slatter walked across the runway towards their aircraft, the cold wind bit into any crevice of their clothing not tightly buttoned up, and made them wonder if this flight, on this date, and at this specific time, was really necessary. The skies were leaden in color, and even darker clouds scudded menacingly overhead as they walked towards their bomber – a sturdy, reliable Wellington. She’d already got 14 successful bombing missions over Europe, and she was now based at the RAF training base in Lossiemouth, Scotland. Back then, on this cold December 31st early evening of 1940, it was the training base of #20 OTU (Officers Training Unit) and the two pilots were taking 6 apprentice navigators on a training mission.

***Sqdrn Ldr Marlwood-EltonPhoto courtesy Samantha Hart, Marketing Director Brooklandsmuseum.com***

With the crew all on board, Squadron Leader Marlwood-Elton eased the bomber out to the runway and turned her into the wind. Pushing the throttles forward, the Wellington began her take off roll. Gathering speed with each fraction of a second, she roared into the night sky.

They’d only been flying a short time when it began to snow. No problem thought both pilots, as this old bird was a tested and proven warrior through and through. But then the starboard engine began to splutter and, after several agonizing moments, stopped altogether. The Wellington only has two engines, but the Bristol Pegasus radial engine is powerful enough to allow the plane to fly on just one. Then the snow dramatically increased in thickness and volume, and the aircraft became very difficult to handle and fly. The crew was ordered to bail out. All six students did so successfully, but the rear gunner, Sgt. Fensome, was killed when his parachute failed to open.

The two pilots, opting to stay aboard, fought to keep her aloft. It was a losing battle, and even though neither pilot knew it at the time, the Wellington crashed into Loch Ness. She sank into the ice cold depths and came to rest 800 feet below on the bottom of the Loch. Luckily, both pilots survived.

The veteran of so many flights over Europe was gone, and was lost forever. Or was she? At 24 miles in length and one mile wide, the internationally famous Loch Ness can be forbidding. In 1999 the long distance swimmer Tammy Van Wisse (who set a speed record in that year swimming in the Loch) said while she did NOT believe in monsters, “swimming in Loch Ness was one of the scariest swims I’ve ever done. Getting in the water you see immediately that it's totally black…it’s as if you’re going into this great big dark abyss. As cold as I was, it sent a shiver down my spine”

If one were to write a movie script about all this, many would probably say “impossible, it’s too hard to believe.” Indeed, the next step in the Nessie, Wellington bomber and the Loch saga, took its next improbable step when an American lawyer and inventor stepped into the story.

Robert Rines (of the Academy of Applied Sciences) was part of the team that invented a high resolution, image scanning radar unit, that was used extensively in the Gulf War. A self confessed Nessie adherent called Marty Klein, who was also worked at the same academy as Rines, decided in 1976 to take the radar unit to Loch Ness and, in his view, find once and for all time, if Nessie really existed. You can imagine how Klein and his group felt, as they watched in total fascination, as their deep water scanning equipment got deeper and deeper into the Loch. The excitement grew to a fever pitch as more and more strange shapes and images began to appear on their scanning monitors.

Either the water was too cloudy or the scanners were unable to identify, 100%, exactly what these tantalizing images were. The considered expert opinion of all the experts was that it was NOT Nessie, but what on earth could it be?

The answer came when some navy divers went down and, lo and behold, they finally solved one mystery, only to give birth to another. What they’d found was an aircraft, but even more

There is even an entire building given over to the Loch and its manymysteries. PULSE author Clayton says, “it’s well worth visiting.”   John Clayton photo               … — ***There is even an entire building given over to the Loch and its manymysteries. PULSE author Clayton says, “it’s well worth visiting.” John Clayton photo***

If one were to write a movie script about all this, many would probably say “impossible, it’s too hard to believe.” Indeed, the next step in the Nessie, Wellington bomber and the Loch saga, took its next improbable step when an American lawyer and inventor stepped into the story.

Robert Rines (of the Academy of Applied Sciences) was part of the team that invented a high resolution, image scanning radar unit, that was used extensively in the Gulf War. A self confessed Nessie adherent called Marty Klein, who was also worked at the same academy as Rines, decided in 1976 to take the radar unit to Loch Ness and, in his view, find once and for all time, if Nessie really existed. You can imagine how Klein and his group felt, as they watched in total fascination, as their deep water scanning equipment got deeper and deeper into the Loch. The excitement grew to a fever pitch as more and more strange shapes and images began to appear on their scanning monitors.

Either the water was too cloudy or the scanners were unable to identify, 100%, exactly what these tantalizing images were. The considered expert opinion of all the experts was that it was NOT Nessie, but what on earth could it be?

The answer came when some navy divers went down and, lo and behold, they finally solved one mystery, only to give birth to another. What they’d found was an aircraft, but even more enthralling and captivating was, WHAT type of aircraft was it? Those up above on the surface in the Command Boat, told the divers’ to do a much more and much closer examination of the aircraft. The answer stunned everyone. It was a Wellington bomber!

Wondering how such a (now) classic WW2 aircraft could be on the bottom of the Loch, an investigation indicated it was R for Robert – the one that had crashed on New Year's Eve, 1940 – and it had rested on the bottom for 36 incredible years. Due to the intense cold of the Loch, it was almost perfectly preserved.

Everyone agreed it must not remain there on the Loch’s floor, and since it was in such a pristine condition, it must – somehow – be lifted to the surface. Because it was such a challenging project, nearly another decade flashed by before anything substantial was achieved, but in 1985 a research vessel called the “John Murray,” and assisted by an ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) called “Sea Pup,” R for Robert was finally brought back to the surface.

R for Robert, now restored, is one of the Brooklands Museum most visited, and most popular displays. Note the “Geodesic WOOD” construction. The Wellington was designed by the world famous Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, an English scientist, engineer an… — R for Robert, now restored, is one of the Brooklands Museum most visited, and most popular displays. Note the “Geodesic WOOD” construction. The Wellington was designed by the world famous Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, an English scientist, engineer and inventor, probably best known to a US audience as the inventor of the “bouncing bomb” used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. However, his unique geodesic design for the Wellington bomber is equally well known to aviation aficionados. Learn more online. It’s fascinating. (Photo courtesy Samantha Hart, Marketing Director, Brooklandsmuseum.com.)

What gives this a story book ending, is that R for Robert was not only restored to her original glory, but is on permanent display at the Brooklands Car & Aviation Museum in Weybridge, near London – where she was originally built! Check out www.brooklandsmuseum.com as well as www.visitscotland.com.

While I was – and probably never would be -- any closer to finding out if the Loch Ness Monster is, fact or fiction, my search (prompted by a Loch Ness road side plaque) had given me a treasure trove of knowledge about one of history’s most fascinating legends. What do YOU think, is Nessie real, or imagined? Then again, has Nessie become such a huge tourist attraction it’d be “Tourist reckless” to deny the fable of the Ages? Or is she perhaps, just a magician’s myth? John would love to hear from YOU: email him at: jdcradio@gmail.comn