Lockheed Lightning P38G 42-13345/F5E 44-24229

A day out in the vicinity of Aberystwyth earlier in the week to look at a two sites with Matt ZX and a couple of our regulars.

First up the infamous and contentious Plynlimon Lightning, about which you'll see very little reliable information on the internet (other than this) - was it for example Lightning F5E 44-24229 or P38 42-13345?

More contentious and far more interesting to non-anoraks is who did this:


Who cut the turbocharger out of this wing and took it home back in 2003/2004? Here's what it used to look like pre-vandalism:



There's a sizeable reward for information leading to recovery...

Location: SN 79840 86523

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Hawker Hunter T7 XL575

While we were in the area we went over to the nearby Hawker Hunter crash site at Gelmast , where only small fragments like these remain.

Location: SN 77568 75749

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A grand day out: NOT a V1 crater

Had a day out with Pat, Paul and Ian yesterday-it went well, right until the point when Paul described me as a "prominent wreckologist"- I'd have preferred "fat bastard" to that-;-)

He did however take a cracking photo of this Parachute mine crater, (wrongly believed to have been made by a V1 until quite recently) so we'll let him off.

Someone has recently erected this sign mislabelling the crater...don't believe everything you read...

Consul

Looting and fiddling continues at the Consul site- the engine was once more wrapped in plastic and hidden from sight. A bit more is missing, and a new home-made sign has appeared.

Oxford

Another new sign at the Oxford site (by my right foot)

Real V1- Death by walking poles.

Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep...Comfort break at the real V1 site

Piper Pa38 Tomahawk G-TOMS

We had a day out on Pen-y-fan in the Brecon Beacons yesterday. We hadn't been up it before- despite being the highest peak in South Wales, it's a pretty lightweight mountain.

It has what is more or less a metalled road all the way up, and consequently on a Saturday it's more heavily trafficked than our High Street.


Near the summit this crashed light aircraft (downed in the first snows last November) still lies, awaiting collection by the air accident investigators.

The pilot walked down the mountain after making this landing and hitched a lift to hospital with his minor cuts and bruises. Witnesses report that he had difficulty making himself believed about his situation.

Inside the cabin, all of the avionics are still there, except the central instrument.

Was this his GPS? Or was it his radio, and some pikeys have visited the wreck?



Some wag has scraped "POLICE AWARE!" into the paint of the fuselage.

It's pikeys then-wonder what that radio looks like in their pimped out metro?

Location: SO 00503 20720

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Bristol Blenheim Mk.V AZ876

Weather and work have interfered with recent outings, but just before the weather closed in I went over to Idridgehay in Derbyshire to see what remains to be seen at the crash site of this Blenheim, which took off from Ashbourne in July 1943 only to nosedive straight into the ground killing all of the crew. Answer- this patch of nettles in a slight depression.

My picture above is rather less interesting than this one, (which I got from Pat Cunningham) of the armour plating taken away by enthusiasts subsequent to an unlicensed excavation of the site by the farmer in the last 90's.

The farmer also dug up an extensive collection of personal effects, including a wallet containing a leave pass and a month's wages. It's bad enough for a serviceman to get killed, but dying with a full wallet and a leave pass, that's a tragedy!

Location: SK 29599 47544

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Handley Page Hampden Mk.I X3154 coded ZN-A

Had a day out with Pat today on a windy Rushup Edge to have a look at a few sites. If (like everyone else) you took a photo of the 0.303 round which was embedded in one of the lumps of formerly molten aluminium at this crash site, you'll not be able to take another, as it has disappeared since our last visit.

The nearby Oxford site had also been disturbed.

Armstrong Vickers Wellington Mk.IC Z8808 coded KJ-E

A long trek in (as usual at this location) foggy conditions yielded extensive scattered wreckage from this crash near Ashfold Gill Head on Gouthwaite Moor in the Yorkshire Dales. 

Location: SE 07303 68831 

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