Vickers Armstrong Wellington Mk.IC DV718

A tough 19k in fog and rain brought us precious little of this aircraft which crashed at night in low cloud and rain on Riggs Moor.

The poor visibility around here which did for all but one of the crew of the Wellington has caused us a few problems too. The weather was relatively fine until we came to the search area, and visibility then dropped dramatically, just as it did last time we were here.

We were out of light before we had a chance to complete our search, and had to do a couple of K over cloughs and groughs in the dark, which was a good navigation exercise. We found this lightweight bit, around 400mm square, but I'm pretty sure we were almost 100m from the main site.

The crash site is big, and having been assured it could be seen from 100m (if only you could see that far), we are certain we will get the main site at our next attempt, (especially as I spotted it on Google Earth this morning!)

Location: SE 02205 73365

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Vickers Armstrong Wellington Mk. III BK405

A bit of an easy walk with Pat Cunningham this afternoon at the Boylestone site of the fatal crash of this Wellington shortly after take-off.

This was the most convincing scrap we found in a reasonably thorough metal detector search, despite a report that the field was so littered with metallic scraps three years ago that you wouldn't need a metal detector to find them.

The magpies have struck again!

Location: SK 20342 35419

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World's End : Flying Whale

Back to World's End above Wrexham last Saturday for another crack at the numerous wrecksites up there. Matt ZX was with us this time, which often improves our luck.

As last time we saw the "Beluga" which ferries bits of Airbus between factories, but this time we actually found a wreck-site, that which most people think is that of a Beaufighter.

High heather made for tough going, and we had to pack it in after only six hours. We had a good look for the Mustang and Vampire wreck sites in that time, mind. We will return when we have better data.

Bristol Beaufighter Mk. X NE203

This is what others have shown as the state of the site, a scar with a few scraps. The nearby burial pit has far more stuff, though.

Location: SJ 23924 48274

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Bristol Beaufighter Mk. X NE203

This looks to be a burial pit with signs of recent digging and fresh-looking bits of aluminium. This is where most of the wreckage we saw was located.

We are awaiting confirmation of identification based on the stamps below.

Location:SJ 23933 48268

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Serial numbers

Inspection Stamp

Urra Moor

A day out above Chop Gate yesterday proved far more successful than our previous outing. As the photo shows, the area is pretty flat in the main, with some deepish gullies containing watercourses.

The High Ground Wrecks coordinates are absolutely rubbish in this area, as so often in Yorkshire, which we proved by finding the actual locations of two or three wreck sites.

The easy ground allowed us to get round the 15k planned, and visit the 6 locations where we though something might be found despite a late start.

We came down in the dark, but there was fair amount of moonlight, so it wasn't the big deal it might have been on a less forgiving bit of high ground, or less favourable weather. I didn't even get my jumper out all day...

Armstrong Vickers Wellington Mk.III BJ778 ZL-AD

All that remains of "A for Apple", (which was one of the most complete crash sites in the country) are these few rusty scraps, with previously molten and corroded scraps of aluminium all around.

Follow the link below to see what happened.

Location: SE 58035 99440

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Bristol Blenheim Mk.1F L1449

A few scraps which were missed by the multiple waves of looters who have visited the site of this Blenheim crash, found by an attractive waterfall in the pine wood planted since the crash.

Engines used to lie in the stream bed nearby, but we all know how those magpies love an engine.

As ever, no-one seem to know where the stolen parts are now, or exactly who it was who took them away.

Location: SE 60416 99817

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Avro Lancaster Mk. 1 W4233 or Blenheim L1449?

We found this bit far higher on the hill than the Blenheim remains by the waterfall. It is downhill from the hilltop thought by many to be the crash site of the Lancaster, and a long way uphill from the nearer Blenheim site.

Things tend not to fall uphill, though the flecks of green paint do look to be the same shade as those on the Blenheim bit in the previous pic.

Discarded by a souvenir hunter, or just maybe a bit from the Lancaster missed by the anoraks?

Location:SE 60366 99962

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Martin Marauder B-26G 44-68072

We went to Snowdonia's Y Garn for the third time yesterday, to document the wreckage trail we spied from the top on our last visit to the mountain.

Once you are in the right Cwm (Cywion), there are fragments everywhere, far more numerous and more sizeable than are suggested by other internet writers.

The right way up was such an easy walk compared with the wrong ways tried previously that we had time to try out the famous Pete's Eats in Llanberis afterwards-not bad at all. Big portions, if a bit pricey.

This undercarriage strut (around 1.5m long) is one of the three originally used in the Marauder's tricycle undercarriage. There is reportedly a second leg like this still at the site, but the third seems to have gone missing.

This one lies quite a short distance from the stream bed where much of the rest of the wreckage is to be found, but is not as visually obvious as the rest of the parts from ground level.

Location: SH 63149 60150