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Monday 24 April 2017

Hurricane Mk1 P3385 , Allt Fawr, Blaenau Ffestiniog

Nice day out high in the mountains By Blaenau Ffestiniog with Jackie and the trolls to see what we could find at 2 new refs [nowt hohum ] but during the climb by blind luck we stumbled on the pilots headrest Armour  from Hurricane MK1 P3385 from the MSFU ,Merchant service fighter unit  based at Speke Liverpool which hit Allt Fawr in poor weather on the 9th August 1942 on a flight to R.A.F .Valley for a weeks gunnery course  after take off the flight of 2 entered heavy  cloud a break in the cloud over the river at Conway allowed the second aircraft piloted by P/O Peter Riddoch to backtrack to safety  Riddoch tried desperately to raise his leader but his RT had failed and after attempts at visual signals had to break off and hope his efforts worked tragically they did not , pilot Officer Robert Bruce McIntyre RCAF died shortly after on the 2.000ft peak of Allt Fawr the crash  heard only by 17 year old Maelor Hughes who found the broken fighter shortly after .
 The plate showed signs of being undisturbed for many years most likely as it was a very long way from the actual crash site, it was returned to it's  hiding place to hopefully stay

Avenger FN821 revisit

Took a trip out with a friend Jarratt Mycoy to the crash site of F.A.A. Avenger FN821 which crashed on Trum-Y-Fawnog ,Llangynog  during a unit move flight from Gosport to HMS Robin in the Orkneys, north Scotland via Machrihanish on the 3 February 1944 with the loss of all on board,  the plane ran  into very poor weather over the mountains which led to a loss of control , during it's final dive the aircraft lost a wing.
On my last visit the trees were still up and the site well hidden but looked pretty much as it does today though I note the escape handle that was present looks to have gone hmmmm
On board were=
1st Pilot S/L William Seddon Appleby
2nd Pilot S/L Ernest Hartley Green
Observer S/L Joe Lupton
Some sources also list a 'Passenger' but as yet I have no info on this

Update

Been a while due to other commitments but now have a bit more time to get out so will be updating and posting new site visits and finds thanks for popping past