Snowdon Revisit

Sean and Matt with 'Copter
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

A hot day on Snowdon yesterday. Imagine that.

Helicopters were all over keeping an eye on things, and in the case of the Sea King seen near the summit, presumably taking part in a rescue exercise. This littler one ( top right of frame) went back and forth up and down Cwm Llan for the better part of an hour.

We found the rest of the DH Mosquito we missed last time, as well as the scant remains of the Spitfire on Yr Aran, with the assistance of Matt ZX.

Now we have found it, we can reveal that you won't need our coordinates to find the Mosquito wreckage. Just follow the river, you can't miss it, throughout the stream bed, and around its banks.

The Spitfire is more elusive, and on steep unstable ground above a good drop. Even that has not prevented fresh looting, however, as we report lower down the page.

On a technical note, all pics are now taken with Micks' new camera, and have much better resolution than previously if you click through...

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Propeller boss

Location: SH 61048 52930

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Detail from collection further upstream

Location: SH 61085 52982

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

This engine bearer used to hold one of the Mosquito's Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.

Of course even if engine and bearer had survived the crash together, this would have been discarded by the scrap merchants when they took the Merlin away to their "Museum".

Mick was telling me that Mr Doylerush was under the impression that the local magpies had told him the stuff they were scavenging was for a millenium museum in Bethesda.

We saw no signs of any such musem on our way through. Would anyone like to tell us what happened to the Bethesda Millennium Museum, and the engines looted on the basis that they were to be exhibits there?

Location: SH 61086 52980

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

This is the most upstream collection we found, mostly comprising undercarriage parts.

Location: SH 61086 52993

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I X4843

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I X4843
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

All that remains of the Spitfire crashed on Yr Aran are these few scraps.

These are less still than Matt ZX saw only as far back as April.

This piece of perspex, and chunk of armour plate have been taken from the site since then.

If you click on the pic and zoom in , you can see that the plate is marked with the year of manufacture, 1940.

The magpies like nothing better than a Spitfire. Consequently even the few bits not yet misappropriated may be the most we have seen left at a Spitfire crash site!

Interestingly, I am told that the missing bits apparently feature in the photos of the crash site on the PDAAR website, which were taken very shortly before we visited.

Location: SH 60615 51687

Lack of posts, Ebay and Bulgaria

Won't be going out today, for the second week running. Mick agreed to drive an ancient truck his mate bought on ebay to Bulgaria last week, and he's not back yet.

I hear it's all a bit Borat as soon as you are away from the tourist coast in Bulgaria, for anyone else thinking of buying a house out there sight unseen on ebay, as the truck's owner has.

I should imagine if Mick has managed to live through the experience, he'll have a few stories.

The Foreign and Commonwealth office's website advises you not to argue with aggressive drivers in Bulgaria as they may be armed, and that criminals dressed as traffic cops may impose fines on you or even "impound your vehicle".

Driving a knackered truck to a previously unseen house bought on the internet in a country with highwaymen. What could possibly go wrong?

De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982

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De Havilland Mosquito Mk.III TV982
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

This undistinguished looking item around 100mm in diameter was our only reward for getting rained on for five hours in the vicinity of the Watkin Path to Snowdon's peak, on a very wet Bank Holiday Monday.

If you zoom in, you can see it is marked J98978/1. The "98" prefix makes it a bit of a Mosquito, specifically we believe Mosquito TV982, which crashed here in 1948 as a result of severe turbulence. We think it is a rubber damper from an undercarriage leg.

We had to beat a hasty retreat shortly after finding this, as Mick's fags had got wet. All other possible emergencies pale into insignificance next to the spectre of nicotine deprivation.

We will be back for the rest in the near future.

Location: SH 61119 52762

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