Grunay
| Shetland Islands | |
|---|---|
| OS Name: | Grunay |
| Shetland Name: | Grunay |
 | |
| UK Grid Reference: | HU695715 |
| Area (ha): | |
| Population: | Occupied by lightkeepers until 1972. |
| Community Council: | |
| Ferry Services: | none |
| Notes: | |
Image copyright Matthew and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Photo from Shetland Museum and Archives.
Grunay is an uninhabited island in the Out Skerries group, the most easterly part of Shetland.
The other islands in the group, both of which are inhabited, are Housay and Bruray.
The island is the site of the lighthouse keeper's house for the lighthouse on the nearby Bound Skerry. This house was abandoned following the automation of the light in 1972.
It was also the site of the first temporary Out Skerries Lighthouse establised in 1854.
WW II history :
On February 22nd 1941, both the Lighthouse on Bound Skerry and the shore station on Gruney were machine-gunned, but fortunately no one was hurt.
On January 18th. 1942, the lighthouse buildings were bombed, and a bomb directly hit the boatman's house. The boatman's mother, Mary Ann Anderson, was buried in the debris and died of her wounds two days later.
A few weeks after, on February 21st 1942, the Blenheim IV - V5433, of the F/404 Sqn. RCAF, stationed at Sumburgh, with a crew of three, crashed on Grunay. The people of Out Skerries had seen it coming in low with only one engine running. It became obvious that the pilot was trying to land on Grunay, but he crashed on the cliffs on the south side of the island. The plane caught fire, and it was impossible to rescue the crew.
Two of the crewmen; the pilot, F/Sgt Charles Douglas Grant Browne, and the navigator, F/Sgt James Henry Oliver, were buried in Lerwick. The third crewman, Sgt Thomas William Coy, was buried in Cheshire.
Remains of the plane can still be seen on Grunay.
On the site, there is a Memorial stone, erected by Jay Chrishison, nephew of F/Sgt Oliver.
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