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 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

Llyn Dulyn

Llyn Dulyn
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Above Llyn Dulyn, there are supposed to be five Ansons, a Wellington, Oxford and Whitley. We visited on Friday, and didn't find a single Anson.

We think we got evidence for everything else though, including the C-47 propellor seen in the foreground of this shot of the Lake.

Airspeed Oxford LB537 or Whitley Mk.V BD232?

Oxford?
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Looking across to the original location of the C-47 wreck referred to in the next post from the coordinates given in High Ground Wrecks for an Oxford crash site, where we found this aircraft component.

The HGW coordinates and location do not agree, as noted in comments on this post, so we will investigate further.

Location:SH 70243 66962

More info

Douglas Dakota C-47B 43-48473

C-47 Prop: Dulyn
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Propellor from the C-47 wreck which used to hang on the gully wall above Llyn Dulyn in Snowdonia, but from which not much has been seen for quite some time.

We were well pleased to find this, our first bit of the day...

Location:SH 70228 66367

More info

Douglas Boston Mk.III Z2186

havoc
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Close to a location given in in this list for a bit of the Boston wreck (compiled we are told by the muppets who attempted to clear Snowdonia of plane wreckage) we found these fragments of aircraft wreckage. We think that they are therefore most likely from the Boston.

The only planes which crashed on this mountain which we can definitely rule out however are the Cessna and the Lincoln, as one of the bits here is a fired (not heat discharged) 0.303 cartridge. Lincolns have 0.50 calibre guns, and the Cessna was unarmed.

The photo is not clear on this, but the riveted component to the right of the cartridge was painted olive drab.

Location: SH 66552 63760

More info

Armstrong Vickers Wellington Mk. IV DV800

pile with slate
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

Someone has created a wreckage pile with cairn and plaque here, near to the coordinates we have for the crash of Wellington DV800. Unfortunately he seems to have written his plaque in tippex. We can see no mention in what is legible of Wellington DV800, and we were not sure initially that this looked like Wellington wreckage.

We would have expected to see a bit of geodetic, but we have had the part numbers from a component in the pile confirmed as Wellington IV, so I suppose that settles it.

Location: SH 67583 63542

well 1
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

There is a wreckage trail from the collection above down the banks and bed of Nant Y Graig. We cannot say if the black-painted sheet aluminium wreckage in that trail as illustrated here belongs with this collection, but we cannot think what else it might be.

Location:SH 67243 63603

More info-none on the 'net as of writing

Avro Lincoln RF511

last wheel
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

This is the lowest recognisable bit of the Avro Lincoln which crashed on the slopes of Llewellyn in Snowdonia on 15th March 1950, There is plenty more as you ascend the bed of Nant Fach, as the photos to follow show. The engines mentioned in this list are however not in evidence.

In the Peak District, a site with this much large wreckage would be quite well known. We can however find no real mention of the wreck anywhere on the 'net. Welsh wreckhunting seems not as popular as elsewhere. The site does however feature in "Hell on High Ground".

Location: SH 67598 63908

More info

Avro Lincoln RF511

plaque
Originally uploaded by seansonofbig2

This plaque more or less exactly marks the topmost extent of the wreckage trail.

Location: SH 67992 63776

More info