3 wrecksites Peak walk

The first site on this walk is probably the most written about and visited crash site in the UK and is a RB-29A 44-61999 'over exposed' which crashed by Higher Shelf Stones 3/10/48 !
The crew of 13 were all lost !
Landon P. Tanner [pilot] ,Harry A. Stroud[co-pilot],Charles R. Wilbanks ,Ralph W. Fields ,Gene A. Gartner ,Saul R. Banks,David D. Moore,Donald R. Abrogast ,Robert I. Doyle ,William M. Burrows ,Clarence M. Franssen ,George Ingram Jr,Howard E. Keel !
The site is very accessible and there are some big bit's still around the peat moor maybe it's high public profile and the size of the parts have kept the worst excesses of the wreckage angels and magpies at bay !
The next site is only about 1/2 a mile away and is of Lancaster KB993 which crashed on James Thorn with the loss of it's crew of 6 Canadians on the 18th of May 1945 ,
A.Clifford [pilot],D.Fehrman, M.Cameron,C.Halvorson , L.Hellerson, K,McIver.
No navigator was on board as it was only to be a local fight and he wouldn't have been needed !
The small amout of remains by the memorial is all that is left but can still turn up some nice parts like the thermo cover I found on my trip !


The climb down from Lancaster KB993 takes you into the deep ravine that contains the remains of C-47 Sky train 42-108982 which crashed at the head of the gully on the 24/7/45 while on a Transport flight From France to Scotland the crew of 7 were all lost ,
George L. Johnson [pilot],Earl W. Burns[co-pilot],Francis M. Maloney,Grover R. Alexander,John Dunlop Main,Beverly W. Izlar.
At the head of the gully there is some large bits partly uncovered from the peat they were buried in , if you cross the fence and head down the slope in the stream below there are bits of wreckage including one of the engines [the other is way down towards Glossop].

Botha L6417, Rhosnegir,R.A.F Valley

Even though this is beyond anyone but a diver and is a protected site I still think it's worth a post !.
On 28 August 1941 after trying to take off from R.A.F.Valley Botha L6417 came down 500mtrs from the shore With the tragic loss of the 3 crew =
T.A.Dixon
F.C.Glockler
K.S.Rosiewioz
But during the rescue attempts in the stormy weather 11 men also lost their lives
Police constable G.Arthur
D.W.Bannister
R.Eton
L.A.Ford
auxiliary Coastguard E.Jones
Sergeant Major A.W.Moger
First officer A.J.Owen
R.K.Simons
C.H.Thornton
Second Lt P.T.Whysall
S.Wilkins
Two 17 year olds, J. Wood of Chester and D. Baynham of Walton-on-Thames, received the George medal a monetary reward from the Air Ministry and silver cases from General Skiorsky, Commander in Chief of Polish Forces. for their brave attempts at rescue which nearly led to the sea claiming them as well !
The RNLI Bronze Medal was awarded to Sgt C Jackson, Lance Bombardier T Taylor, Gunner J W Parkinson, and air-craftsman A E Atkinson, and posthumously to those who had died in the rescue attempt.
The memorial is by Rhosnegir fire station !

HE-111F8+KR

On the night of 1/11/41 a HE-111 from the 7th Staffel Kampfgeschwader 40 was on a Bombing mission to northern England when it was intercepted By a Beaufighter from R.A.F Valley flown by pilot officer M.Shipard and Sgt. D.Oxby and shot down over Anglesey , the stricken bomber fell on to the land of Bwlch-y-fen, nr Gwalchmai just behind the tree line between the 2 houses carrying a full bomb load the resultant explosion damaged both property's !

The crew were
Lt Georg Leins [pilot]
Unteroffizier Alwin Tepe
Unteroffizier Gerhard Fischer
Gefreiter Rudolf Terstegen
All were lost in the crash and sadly due to the total destruction of the plane the pilots body was never found ,the others now rest in the Cannock chase German military cemetery !

Vulcan XA909

This shot is of Treddolphin farm near Gwalchmai on Anglesey and was the crash site of Vulcan XA909 on the 16/7/64
The plane had been on a training flight when at 43.000ft a bearing loss in n04 engine also damaged n03 and and caused control issues ,with the assistance of a pair of Gnats from Valley the Vulcan crew hoped to get to R.A.F. Valley ,but the pilot realised he had marginal control and also that it would be not enough to land safely, knowing as he did that the design of the rear crew escape system was totally useless except under the most favourable of circumstances and with the undercarriage down there was no escape for the 3 crew in the rear as only the pilot and co-pilot had ejection seats the rear crew had to manually jump ! in nearly every Vulcan crash this was impossible due to the G forces !. So he aimed to put the rear crew out first then send XA909 to a watery end but after the crew left , the Bomber turned inland and fell in the fields in the foreground lucky no one was harmed on the ground !
The farm is currently up for rent so there was no one around to ask for info but there will be remains in the fields as Xa909 hit with a lot of force a large amount of remains are also have believed to have been put on the dump at Valley and can still be seen if you are lucky enough to have permission to enter the base !.

Halifax BB275 Four mile bridge ,Anglesey

Not brilliant but it's the best shot of the crash site of Halifax BB275 at Four mile bridge by Valley the plane stalled and fell into the mud in the foreground on the afternoon of 1/2/1943 with the loss of the 8 man crew !
The Halifax from 1659 H.C.U was on a training flight from R.A.F Leeming when it's port outer engine stopped, sadly a brave attempt by Plt officer Cornelius flying in a Airspeed Oxford from R.A.F Tywyn to Shepard the plane to R.A.F Llanbedr failed as bad weather broke contact between the planes and the pilot of BB275 headed for Valley where the plane fell about a 1 1/2 miles from the runway !
A board of enquiry found a miss handling of the fuel system [ * see update !] led to the crash given the high work load the crew would have been under this is all to common a mistake, though this was a MK 2 Halifax which were notorious for serious handling issues due to rudder overbalance at landing speeds which had resulted in many crew lives lost the most serious of which was the loss of V9977 which crashed near Ross-on-Wye with the loss of the entire H2s radar development
team !
5 of the crew were buried in Holyhead !.

Pilot J.G.Arsenault
Navigator Flt Sgt.. D.C.Carder
Flt Engineer Sgt P.Larsen
Air Gunner Sgt H.F.Corrie
Air Gunner Sgt .D.E Section J.L.Boivin
All above R.C.A.F ,there were 3 other crew but I have no information on their names or ranks !

Update =
A big thanks to Esben Olsen for giving me the names of the rest of the crew of BB275 who are as follows =
Navigator Sgt. A.B.Wedderspoon
Bomb aimer Sgt B.J.George
Wireless Operator Air Gunner Sgt T.H.Clapham
*=Also for the information on the cooling system on the RR Merlin engine which had reliability issues and seems the more likely to have caused of the engine failure on BB275 and not miss handling of the fuel system !
Again thanks

Lockheed Lightning 42-13345 Plynlimon Mt

Lockheed Lightning 42-13345 of the 27nd photographic recon unit crashed high on Plynlimon on 11/09/1945 with the loss of pilot Lt Xenophon Eugenides , the aircraft struck the ridge line in the background and lost it's props momentum then carried it on until it fell on to the opposite slope !
On this revisit for me ! with Sean Mick and Al of Peak wreck hunters I was saddened to see the wholesale wrecking that has gone on at this site in recent times ! I hope they get who did this and they are held responsible for this vandalism and theft !

There is a substantial reward for any information leading to recovery of stolen items and prosecutions!!

Memorial cross Ruabon MT

This large cross on Ruabon MT is said to be to a polish pilot which lost their life in one of the 15 air crashes in the area but it seems it may be to Spitfire X4713 Which crashed on 16.11.41 with the loss of the pilot Cyril Cocks his plane hit about 14 metres away from the cross but I have no further details !

Some remains of X4713 will poss still be near however given the effort that has been put into clearing the site up on this MT don't hold yer breath !!

REF SJ 24243 47589