collision of P-47C ,41-6233 and P-47C 42-74640 of the 551st, FTS 495th FTG on the 23rd September 1944 Tibberton Green , Newport

From the summer a walk out to find if anything shows in the landscape at Tibberton Green , Newport, Shropshire  of the collision of P-47C ,41-6233 and P-47C 42-74640 of the 551st, FTS 495th FTG on the 23rd September 1944 , the planes flying from nearby RAF Atcham Shropshire were in a four ship formation when bounced by 2 other P-47's the lead ordered a break to starboard but sadly 2 Lt J.Heagney in number 4 position turned in erro to port colliding with number 3 flown by 2 LT D.E.Casebier both planes crashed almost immediately with the loss of both pilots.

At the site which is now part of a big agricultural college this was about as close as i could get to the site of 42-74640's impact point there is a change in growth at the grid ref i had but i could see nothing more to mark the tragic days events

B-24J, 42-52003 from the 310 Ferrying Squadron on delivery from RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire to RAF Hardwick ,Suffolk 11th of October, 1944, Mill Hill , Glossop

 Just back from a Snowy and fog laden visit to the crash site of B-24J, 42-52003 from the 310 Ferrying Squadron on delivery from RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire to RAF Hardwick ,Suffolk on the 11th of October, 1944 with 2 crew.

 The flight ran into trouble before it even left the runway during take off the bomber struck some of the landing lights which the pilot had no chance of seeing in the fog that had clamped down over the area that day but gaining height and speed the pilot managed to get clear without further incident but later the Engineer knowing the bomber was still in cloud and heading towards high ground tried to tell the pilot to gain height by gesturing up wards with his thumb but in a testing and stressful time the pilot failed to react or misunderstood the engineers 'thump's up' as 'all ok' ? the crew who only saw the ground at the last second struggled to get the bomber to climb but too low they stuck the rising ground the plane tore up the slope of Mill Hill near Glossop but thankfully both crew survived though they were injured .

  At the Snowy and fog bound site some big parts still remain 3 stripped engines the horizontal tail surfaces plus chunks of the wings are the first thing you see but in a burn area countless many small and interesting items remain , electrical components and fittings litter the slope but my best spot was one small and fragile piece of instrument glass .

Crew =
 2nd Lieutenant C. R. Houpt [pilot]
Staff Sergeant J. M. Najvar [Engineer]

Junkers ju-88A , 8/KG1,V4+BS 1st of April 1941 Brown clee hill ,Shropshire

 From last weeks Trip out to the Brown clee hill ,Shropshire With Richy Curzon to try to find the site of the crash of Junkers ju-88A , 8/KG1,V4+BS which crashed on the 1st of April 1941 ,after becoming lost in poor weather during a raid on Birmingham the bomber smashed a 250 yard swath through the trees on the hill where the bomb load detonated totally destroying the bomber with the sad loss of all 4 crew .

 On the slope around Big Wood after a good zig zag down the hill Rich Found this cross made of fence parts with a plate with a inscription in memory of 4 comrades and a date of October 1940 ? this seems to be when the Squadron changed from HE 111's to the JU-88 and one crew member left the crew the bolt is an aircraft bolt but very difficult to make out the stamps .

Crew lost =
Uffz Hans Ewald
Uffz H Prochnow
Uffz W Lehnhardt
Fw E Wels.