A long trek over boggy terrain above Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales yesterday yielded only one confirmed site, this collection of scraps from a Flying Fortress crashed in cloud in May 1945.
Location:SE 00053 72764
More info
A day out with Matt ZX yesterday on foggy Arenig Fawr looking at the crash site of a Flying Fortress. We found far more wreckage than expected, trailling 300m down the slope in a suspiciously straight line which Matt thought might be the path taken by the recovery team.
Theres' not really much on the 'net about this site, but the link below gives a precis of the circumstances of the crash, and a pic of the crew..
Location: SH 82430 37069 to SH 82649 36942
The memorial with small crash debris in front, adjacent to the trig. point.
This memorial appears identical to that which was reportedly fixed to the wall of the Town Hall.
Was it moved up here, or are there two of them?
Location: SH 82703 36949
A collection of fair-sized bits further down the hill. Our Flickr site shows lots of other bits we found all the way up to the crash site and memorial. Too many and too small to blog them all.
Location: SH 82565 37052
This scar in Bwylch Maen Gwynedd was close to the coordinates given in "High Ground Wrecks", for three 'planes (Boeing Flying Fortress B-17E 41-9098, Westland Lysander Mk.III T1655, and Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIA P7295), and looked pretty convincing from a distance.
Close up however, not a trace of metal. It's hard to crash a 16 tonne 'plane into the ground and not leave a scrap of aluminium.
We know this isn't it, but we think this might be what HGW have marked as the Fortress crash site.
Location:SJ 07733 34027
More info
Here's where the Flying Fortress actually crashed, 670m away from the High Ground Wrecks/Doylerush coordinates, and in a different valley altogether. See then next post for our proof.
Location: SJ 07933 33521
More info
Site proving scraps from the scar left when this Fortress crashed: perspex, a buckle, electrical components and various unidentifiable scraps of aluminium and steel.
This unusual stainless steel plaque is reportedly affixed to the wall at the point where an engine rolling down the hill from the crash of a Flying Fortress demolished it.
A number of enthusiast's books gave this site as that of Fortress 44-6005, but we understand that most people now think this is where 44-8639 crashed. (Or is it the other way round?)
The plaque seems to keep out of the controversy over the plane's identity by not giving the aircraft a number.
Location:SH 64343 12395
A home-made memorial and scatter of formerly molten aluminium at the crash site. It seems this plea might have come too late, there's nothing there now longer than around 150mm.
We think the memorial was made by Matt Rimmer, a local champion of wreck site preservation, who was responsible for clearing up the mystery of which aircraft crashed here, in the opinion of Edward Doylerush amongst others.
More info
This item, 1/4 mile distant from the commonly visited wreck of "Overexposed", and described by some as an "engine casing", has eluded us a few times in the past. We finally got it today.
The B-29 rebuilder who gave us the photo in the post above thinks that it is a gun well, possibly the upper four gun turret, matching the ring assembly below this post. As the comment below shows, others think differently.
We heard this was here as a result of an abandoned effort at large-scale souvenir hunting.
Location:SK 09373 94622
More info
A Flying Fortress, nicknamed "Mi Amigo" crashed in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield in 1944. This memorial was erected at the crash site.
Second of the day for us yesterday.
Location: SK 32870 85919
More info
