Saturday 24 September 2011

Vickers Armstrong Wellington Mk. III BK405

Vickers Armstrong Wellington Mk. III BK405  by Conan the Trainspotter

Bits found at the crash site near Boylestone, Derbyshire of a Wellington lost during a training exercise in 1943.

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Tuesday 20 September 2011

Boeing 737-400-G-OBME

Boeing 737-400-G-OBME by Conan the Trainspotter


This memorial to those who died in the Kegworth Air Disaster is on a bridge over the M1.

Location: SK 47433 26467

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Friday 19 August 2011

Gloster Meteor F Mk.4 RA487 : Looting













Nipped in on our way past the other day to find that all that remains at the Hagg Side crash site is this bit of armour plate. Shame on you, looters!

Monday 23 May 2011

Douglas Skymaster C-54G-5-DO 45-543

Douglas Skymaster C-54G-5-DO 45-543 Stake House Fell, trough of bowland

A day out in the Trough of Bowland with some Flickr buddies as well as Hal and Steve located this undercarriage leg from a cargo 'plane whose instruments were supposedly seduced when returning from the Berlin airlift by the call of a commercial radio station to fly into Stake House Fell.

Were there any commercial radio stations in 1949? Wotherspoon's suggestion of a BBC station seems more likely.

Location:SD 55650 49425
More info: here

Friday 29 April 2011

Lockheed Lightning P38G 42-13345/F5E 44-24229

Lockheed Lightning P38G 42-13345

A day out in the vicinity of Aberystwyth earlier in the week to look at a two sites with Matt ZX and a couple of our regulars.

First up the infamous and contentious Plynlimon Lightning, about which you'll see very little reliable information on the internet (other than this) - was it for example Lightning F5E 44-24229 or P38 42-13345?

More contentious and far more interesting to non-anoraks is who did this:

Lockheed P38G Lightning 42-13345-Vandalism
Who cut the turbocharger out of this wing and took it home back in 2003/2004? Here's what it used to look like pre-vandalism:

Lockheed P38G Lightning 42-13345-Down in Wales

There's a sizeable reward for information leading to recovery...

Location: SN 79840 86523

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Hawker Hunter T7 XL575

Hawker Hunter T7 XL575 by Conan the Trainspotter
While we were in the area we went over to the nearby Hawker Hunter crash site at Gelmast , where only small fragments like these remain.

Location: SN 77568 75749

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Sunday 3 April 2011

A grand day out: NOT a V1 crater

Fail! by Conan the Trainspotter


Had a day out with Pat, Paul and Ian yesterday-it went well, right until the point when Paul described me as a "prominent wreckologist"- I'd have preferred "fat bastard" to that-;-)

He did however take a cracking photo of this Parachute mine crater, (wrongly believed to have been made by a V1 until quite recently) so we'll let him off.

Someone has recently erected this sign mislabelling the crater...don't believe everything you read...

Consul

Consul by Conan the Trainspotter

Looting and fiddling continues at the Consul site- the engine was once more wrapped in plastic and hidden from sight. A bit more is missing, and a new home-made sign has appeared.

Oxford

Oxford by Conan the Trainspotter

Another new sign at the Oxford site (by my right foot)

Real V1- Death by walking poles.

Real V1 by Conan the Trainspotter

Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep...Comfort break at the real V1 site

Saturday 12 February 2011

Piper Pa38 Tomahawk G-TOMS

We had a day out on Pen-y-fan in the Brecon Beacons yesterday. We hadn't been up it before- despite being the highest peak in South Wales, it's a pretty lightweight mountain.

It has what is more or less a metalled road all the way up, and consequently on a Saturday it's more heavily trafficked than our High Street.


Near the summit this crashed light aircraft (downed in the first snows last November) still lies, awaiting collection by the air accident investigators.

The pilot walked down the mountain after making this landing and hitched a lift to hospital with his minor cuts and bruises. Witnesses report that he had difficulty making himself believed about his situation.




Inside the cabin, all of the avionics are still there, except the central instrument.

Was this his GPS? Or was it his radio, and some pikeys have visited the wreck?



Some wag has scraped "POLICE AWARE!" into the paint of the fuselage.

It's pikeys then-wonder what that radio looks like in their pimped out metro?

Location: SO 00503 20720

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