Report - Aircraft Wrecks in the Peak District - July 2020 (PIC HEAVY)

[DegenerateBum]

Going to add a few more because I never thought I would get back to the hills. Falling off a cliff last October breaking my femur and turning my hip joint into powder, I thought I would never walk again never alone getting back into the hills. Nine months on, following hundreds of hours of physio and strength exercises, here we are... this batch all from the Manchester/ Holmfirth area done over two days in early June 2021:


1. VICKERS WELLINGTON Mk.IC R1011 BIRCHEN BANK MOSS
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined long-range medium bomber of the Second World War. A key feature of the aircraft was its geodetic airframe structure designed by Barnes Wallis of Dambusters fame. It was the principal night bomber in the early years of the war but superseded from 1943 by the larger four-engined Avro Lancaster.

On the 30th January 1943 this aircraft of No.28 OTU was on a night cross-country navigation exercise from RAF Wymeswold near Loughborough. This aircraft was one of three aircraft lost in the region that night due to the weather, though the other two crashed in lower lying areas. Three of the five crew were killed in the crash. Today a small pile of parts and sections of geodetic framework have been gathered together at the site. A post with a ceramic plaque can also be seen.

Flying Officer Anthony Lane Pilot Killed
Pilot Officer Charles Brown Bomb Aimer Killed
Pilot Officer Charles Grisdale Navigator Injured
Sergeant Raymond Rouse Air Gunner Killed
Sergeant Miller Wireless Operator Injured

That bloody Wellington on Birchen Bank Moss!

I may have mentioned I got into this visiting crash sites malarkey because my Dad and Grandad took me up into the hills as a kid to find them. This was done mostly as a way to "keep me out of trouble and stop me from bothering nice folk" because I was a little shit. Anyway, I spent hours with my Dad looking for that Wellington to the E of Far Black Clough. Since he passed I've also been back on numerous occasions looking based on the scrawled 6-figure grid he left amongst his hieroglyph/back-of-a-fag-packet notes I inherited. Obviously, I didn't find it because it wasn't bloody there! Another wreck hunter gave me rough directions and on our free holiday for her madge's funeral this year I went for another wander on Bleaklow, heading up Middle Black Clough for the falls and then onto the Botha on Round Hill and the Defiant at Near Bleaklow Stones. I returned via Near Black Clough with a detour over the Birchen Bank Moss moor to the site of Wellington. It's hard to miss coming down from on top of it because you can see the cross. Now I have a grid ref it's easy to see my Dad had transposed digits in his. A habit he had, and one that I've inherited.

I spent a contented 20 minutes or so there with a brew and TedTheDog and thinking how my Dad would be pissing himself laughing if he knew that 30+ years after his death he was still keeping me out of trouble and stopping me from bothering nice folk

Really glad you've recovered from what sounds like a horrific injury and you're back out bogtrotting again @Bertie Bollockbrains. Otherwise, I reckon you'd be getting into trouble and bothering them nice folk

 

[DegenerateBum]

The wreckage of two Supermarine Seafires (the Royal Navy version of the Spitfire) are said to lie just 400m away from this Flying Fortress. Despite two attempts on two different trips, using allegedly reliable grid references, having seen online photos and having read acounts of the incident, I was unable to find

I've had fruitless searches for the Seafires in the past. I always seem to pick filthy weather to head up there. I revisited a few weeks ago after going to the Lancaster on Birchenough Hill. I was *eventually* able to locate two bits a good distance apart. The wreckage was always well scattered and I think there's quite a lot of it gone down the years. The section of wing is the most referred to bit.

What's the protocol for providing coordinates @Bertie Bollockbrains ? I've got good 10-figure grids for both of those bits.

 

[Bertie Bollockbrains]

Not precise Grid References, keep it vague. Some of these sites really are war graves and as you know these fragments are traded on eBay and other places. Wandering around in circles on a hilltop is all part of the challenge. Trust me, many I have been unable to find.