The historic-place record does not grant public access. Check current conditions and ownership before entering land or a building.

What is recorded here

Glenside is a place name for possible remains of a Second World War flying boat in Loch Ryan, not a proved aircraft identity. The metal may be from a Short Sunderland, perhaps T9073, or a Saro Lerwick; surveys have not settled it. The saved Argyll label is wrong for this Dumfries and Galloway shore.

The vessel and voyage

This is an aircraft site rather than a shipwreck in the ordinary sense. Flying boats operated from the Loch Ryan area during the Second World War. The remains have been suggested as a Short Sunderland, possibly T9073, but their construction might instead fit a Saro Lerwick. No individual flight can be attached until the type and identity are proved.

How it was lost

The theory connecting the metal with Sunderland T9073 rests partly on that aircraft having burned, which could explain remains cut down near the waterline. It is only a possible explanation. The wreckage could also have been broken up or left during shore-side scrapping rather than marking the exact place of a flying accident.

Deaths and survival

No named crew, death or rescue can safely be tied to this metal while its aircraft identity remains uncertain. Casualties from a possible candidate must not be copied onto an unproved site.

What remains

A 2015 low-tide survey recorded partly submerged iron or steel remains about 15 by 13.5 metres. Jagged ribs appear cut off around the waterline. Some shapes resemble a wing or hull, but specialists noted that frame spacing did not clearly fit a Sunderland. Later work also raised the Lerwick possibility. The site is south of Glenside slipway in Loch Ryan, Dumfries and Galloway, despite the saved Argyll label.

Why it mattered

The remains point to Loch Ryan's wartime flying-boat activity and to the difficult work of identifying broken aircraft structures in tidal water. The uncertainty is itself useful: it records two plausible aircraft types and keeps researchers from turning local belief into a false certainty.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 2026-08-15.

From the Historic Environment Scotland record 386602

Places near here

Photo credits

Billy McCrorie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
wfmillar, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Stanley Howe, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Low SalchrieFarmhouse, Farmstead · 1258 yd

Explorer Tom Low Salchrie has its own farmhouse and farmstead entry in Kirkcolm parish, distinct from the other Salchrie places…

KirkcolmLithic Implement(s) (flint), Lithic Implement(s) (stone), Microlith · 1472 yd

Explorer Tom This other Kirkcolm spot is stacked with flint tools and microliths that are tiny but mighty. It’s like a miniature…

Salchrie CroftFarmhouse, Farmstead · 1595 yd

Explorer Tom Salchrie Croft is separately recorded in Kirkcolm parish as a farmhouse and farmstead, and my imaginary crofter has…

Wig SandsCore (flint) · 1.0 mi

Explorer Tom Wig Sands is a flint core that refuses to fall down because it’s too proud to admit it’s just dirt. It’s got no period…

Juanita: the Wig, Loch Ryan, Firth of ClydeYacht (19th Century) · 1.1 mi

Explorer Tom Juanita is a yacht named after a person who definitely didn’t know what a Loch was. If it went into a chippy, I bet it…

BalwherrieManor House (medieval) · 1.2 mi

Explorer Tom Balwherrie is a medieval manor house where a poet once fell in the nearby ditch and claimed it was part of his artistic…

MarslauchTower House (medieval) · 1.5 mi

Explorer Tom Marslauch would describe itself as a 'chill tower house with excellent views and zero interest in small talk.' It’s got…

Loch RyanBay · 1.5 mi

Leswalt CemeteryCemetery · 1.9 mi

Aldouran Wetland Garden & Woodland TrailsNature reserve · 2.0 mi

Explorer Tom Aldouran Wetland Garden is a bit of Leswalt's own handiwork: a community garden beside the burn, a boardwalk into…

High Kirkland HillMountain / peak · 2.2 mi

South Aldouran WoodWood · 2.3 mi

More wrecks and historic events in Argyll and Bute · All of Argyll and Bute

Add to this placeAdd a picture Add a detailed tip Add a story

Explore the map1,095,414 places to discover