Havoc/Boston
Originally uploaded by wreckhunter A sad remnant of what was one the best wreck sites in Wales, visible for three miles. You will read here that the rest of the remains were removed from this site by a misguided Snowdonia National Park Authority and the solid sounding Boston Havoc Preservation Trust.
The true story of what happened here addresses to some extent a point we have received much garbled, emotional, threatening and spiteful correspondence about in the last week, as a result of our expressed anger at this pointless piece of vandalism. Bear with us a moment(or move to the next post).
The site is not owned by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, but by the National Trust. Far from clearing the wreck site, or even giving permission, they registered it as a site of historical interest with the National Sites and Monuments Register. The confusion seems to have arisen because the stripping of Snowdonia's wreck sites happened under the leadership of the SNP's head warden, under pressure from "wreckologists".
We understand from
here that the truth is that the entire wreck was taken by the now-defunct BHPT. The outer wing sections, inner wing sections with undercarriage legs, wing center section, both engines, fuselage center section and numerous smaller parts were taken by the BHPT, who immediately sold one of the outer wing sections for scrap,and later broke up both engines. In 2006, what remained of Z2186 was sold to persons unknown.
The BHPT were a member of the BAAC, whose "wreckologist" members keep telling us they are the best custodians for aircraft relics. I am sure the BHPT were well-meaning (as of course everyone is) but the end result of their intervention was that a memorial and interesting walker's landmark was reduced to scrap metal, and someone's private collection. Whilst it may be argued that a licensed recovery would not make the same mistakes, one need only look over the hill at the Lincoln wreck, whose most interesting bits are apparently at best in private hands in unknown locations. We can give many other examples, and we are sure that our detractors know even more than we do.
These wreck sites should be left where they are. That you might be licensed to "recover" this material by landowners or the MOD is irrelevant. Recovery groups, research groups, investigative groups, whatever they call themselves, seem not to realise that history shows that such groups always fold. Their precious little collections of bits nearly always end up broken up for scrap, or in someone's private collection. You can read in these groups' own published material that they know this, but human nature being what it is, they think they are different.
The so called "research" which come out of these recovery activities is worthless. A report may go in to the county archaeologist(who one of those responsible tells us has not the slightest interest in these activities), and moulder away on a shelf. The bits may go in some "museum" where a very small number of the public can pay to see an amateurish exhibition of what they could formerly see in context for nothing, but science has not been served. Nothing appears in a learned journal, at most there is just an article in some magazine for sad anoraks.
A grave site has been disturbed, all too often, and for what? To make some social inadequates feel important, judging by much of the correspondence I have received in the last week.
Location: SH 66647 62932
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