Still In Business

We are still going out, though as we haven't done any new sites for a while, I don't bother posting anything. All any pictures would show is the gradual erosion of wreckage at the sites, and its replacement with a proliferation of signs, crosses and poppies, even at sites where there were no deaths. Some of the outings can be seen at MatZX's site here.  I'm planning on starting to visit some new sites soon, lockdown permitting...

Countryfile

Countryfile's article on the peak plane wreck sites may have been the cause of the massive spike in visitor numbers to the site over the weekend.

At least they sent out a competent presenter guided by a local MRT volunteer to the Shelf Stones Superfortress site, rather than the clueless floppy-haired double act possibility: Ben Fogle and Alan Clark. Imagine that if you will.
























Oh dear-here's that Mountain Rescue Team volunteer leading his colleagues in the "recovery" from the site of what is described as a gun turret, previously hidden by kids back in 1948.

I'd be interested to know whether they had a licence from the MOD for the operation. If they have, we could have told them where there was one in much better condition.

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

Fi-103 (V-1) Cruise Missile: Langsett

On Featherbed Top on Howden Moor, there is a bare patch which many including Alan Clark and Pat Cunningham have claimed is the site of a V1 crash. We have visited the site a couple of times previously, and gone with the consensus identification up to now, but we no longer think that the consensus is correct.

Following information received, we have looked into claims from "Tomsk" that this site is not in fact a V1 crater, but that the true crater lies 3/4 km away. After visiting the alternative location today, we are happy that this is the case, for the following reasons:

1. The new crater (illustrated) is very similar in appearance to the one on Black Edge, known to be a V1 site.

2. We found twisted, rusty heavy gauge steel components (illustrated) around the crater identical in appearance to those we found at the Black Edge site. Mick's doing his Big Vern face in this shot.

3. The aluminium parts we found previously (now removed by persons unknown) at the supposed V1 crater correspond to nothing we have seen at V1 sites elsewhere.

4. We have seen no other V1 sites which are a flat black scar on the peat like the supposed V1 site on Howden Moor. All other sites are sharp-sided craters like the new candidate.

5. We have evidence from Tomsk that scraps found at the supposed V1 crater come instead from a Luftmine B parachute mine. Here's a Luftmine B:

Note the distinctive cross section of the fins, and their five rivets. Here's a bit recovered from the old site with that cross section and five rivets:

6. Tomsk also identifies parts found at the new site as belonging to a V1. Here's the bolt which holds the warhead on on a museum piece:

Here's something which looks very similar recovered from the site:

Here's the guillotine mechanism which cuts the cables to send the V1 into a dive:

So our initial scepticism has been greatly tempered. The new location seems far more likely to be correct than the commonly held one. The sixth comment on this post also contains seemingly confirmatory information from the Imperial War Museum including these pics. Thanks Dave.

It'll be interesting if others modify their opinions and websites to suit. More interesting still will be who they credit-Mick tells me that Alan Clark for one is simply following us around the sites we have visited in Wales nowadays without crediting us, judging by the updates to his site.

New Location: SK 18224 97083

DeHavilland Hornet F. Mk.1 PX244

DeHavilland Hornet F.1 PX244
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

On the B-team outing today with Welsh Barry we found this little bit of aluminium skinning at the site, despite Alan Clark having apparently taken anything sizeable for his private collection (see the two pics right at the bottom of the page here).

If you are reading, Alan, did you make those wonky little felt-tip scale bars? ROFL! That's the best thing we've seen since your mate's home made "Air Crash Investigator" jumpsuit!

Location: SK 27282 36384

Further Info on Wrecks

You may want to know more about the wrecks we have visited. We could reproduce others' research, but it would be just as well to go to the source:

The link from the title above is probably the best internet site for information on the planes that crashed in the peak. No information on crash or wreckage location is given, but if you wanted to know more about the planes and their pilots, this one's the daddy, at least as far as the Peak District is concerned. Its author is another matter altogether. We had to ban him from commenting on the blog, but if you read some of his comments on here, you'll see what sort of person he is.

We use Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks and High Ground Wrecks for general location and biographical info, and the sites given here (with caution) for more up to date photos and info on the wreck sites.

Ralph the dog favours Peakland Air Crashes, which we understand has GPS based five decimal place coordinates, and more up to date info, though we have never seen a copy.