Ribblehead Viaduct and Whernside

Up onto yet another Whernside in Yorkshire, this one above the Ribblehead Viaduct (pictured). Interesting weather and light throughout the day, Mick got some good snaps.

A relatively easy walk, only 12k and not too much ascent to see a couple of WWII wreck sites. What with having had swine flu and so on, we weren't up for a mad yomp. Nice walk, and down in time for tea for once.

Despite High Ground Wrecks being as rubbish as ever in Yorkshire, we found both sites we were going for. I hadn't realised how much these two sites had been picked over by wreckologists until I did the post-walk research. Sad. But then they are sad.

Martin Marauder B-26G 44-68072

Martin Marauder B-26G 44-68072
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

A day out with Matt ZX to see if we could find anything from the Marauder crash site on Y Garn yesterday.

The photo shows what we believe to be the impact point of this medium bomber of the Western face of Y Garn, Snowdonia. The parallel lines of scree are deepish scrapes which have filled over time with small stones. The site location was proven correct by the presence of some distinctive bits of aircraft aluminium, as shown in the entry below.

David Earl reports that the aircraft broke in two from here, with one bit staying with one of the crew on the Llanberis side, and the remainder of the crew and 'plane going over the edge to break up and scatter in the valley below. An old-time wreckhunter has written to tell us that by the early 60s only the props lay on this side of the hillside, the wing sections seemingly having been pushed over the cliff.

Using telescopes and binoculars from the summit, we established that the undercarriage and other bits not weighed in for scrap by the local magpies are still present. We will return by the Eastern route to get photos and accurate locations for the scattered wreckage on a later trip.

Location of impact point: SH 62842 59856

Location of undercarriage:SH 631 602

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

Avro Anson T21 VV995

Anson VV995
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig

Finally found the undercarriage from this Anson navigation trainer on Foel Lwyd at the third try.

This was our backup walk after our attempt on Moel Hebog's Anson EG472 had to be abandoned, as we had chosen a route which was unsuited to the weather.

Ended up doing it in the dark, but with good coords from Rob the Tog, an easy find in the end. It's always a lot easier when you are looking in the right place. The High Ground Wrecks coordinates are over 200m out at this site, and on this terrain, that's a long way.

Location: SH 72366 72056