Four photographs giving a vivid window into a unique period of Manx history have been bought by the Manx Aviation and Military Museum.
The museum, based by the airport at Ronaldsway, bought the black and white photographs after they cropped up on the internet auction site Ebay recently.
Museum director Ivor Ramsden said: ‘One of our members, John Qualtrough, of Port St Mary, is constantly searching for old Manx photographs and he called me to tell me about these photos which had appeared. I had a look and quickly realised that they were of one of the Fairey Barracudas which were based at Ronaldsway during 1944 and 45, when it was a Royal Naval air station where torpedo bomber crews were trained.’
Mr Ramsden placed successful bids, buying them from a private collector in the south of England.
He said: ‘I can’t explain how they came to be there but they are now back in the island after 70 years.
‘Although the price was rather eye-watering, these historic photos are an important addition to our collection.’
Stamps on the back of the pictures show they were taken by the Royal Navy official photographer from Ronaldsway, which already gives them a historic link to the museum.
‘Coincidentally the reception area of the museum is the old photographic darkroom where they would have been developed back in 1945,’ he said.
The aeroplane shown in the photographs actually crash landed on Douglas Head after catching fire during a training flight on August 9, 1945. Watched by 100s of people on Douglas promenades, two crew parachuted to safety and the pilot brought the plane down before running to escape the flames.
One of the photographs shows a small boy sitting by the Naval recovery crew’s kettle.
Mr Ramsden said: ‘If he is still around, we’d love to hear from him, and indeed anybody else who remembers this, or any other wartime incidents.’
The photographs are now on display at the museum.