Gloster Meteor WD778
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| A meteor similar to the one that crashed |
On the 24th March 1954 this aircraft flying out of RAF Leeming crashed into a plateau just beneath the summit of Knock Fell in Cumbria .
The crew were known to be on their way back to Leeming . The last radio contact with them occured whilst they were only 5 miles from the airfield . Low cloud obscured the ground and the pilot was instructed to use the Ground Controlled Approach frequency to enable a safe landing .
Nothing further was seen or heard of the aircraft until 5 days later when it was discovered by a local gamekeeper .
It seems that for some reason the radio must have ceased to function properly , the crew must have become disorientated in the cloud and ended up flying too far to the west , perhaps realisng the mistake they set an easterly course unfortunately hitting the flanks of the pennine hill which lay between them and the base .
Both the 21yearold crewmen were killed in the crash .
They were
P/O John David Briggs Pilot
F/O Derrick Walker Nav/ R.Op.
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| An overview of the site |
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A sad
footnote to the visit is that some major items have recently been stolen
from the site . There are pictures readily available on the internet
that show a huge wing section and two whole fan blade hub complete with
blades from the engine were there in June 2013 but now in November have
gone .
Due to very clear tracks it was clear that a large ATV had recently visited the site , perhaps this was the method of wreckage removal too .
The
site is reletively easy to visit , the Pennine Way passes close by and a
metalled road leading up to a radar installation is only just on the other side of the hill. |
Some very nice shots there Paul, the wreckage looks well against the darkening sky. Real shame about those sections going missing.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos especially the lead shot. That was a nice sliver of light we got between the clouds. Pity about the stolen remains though. Bastards, hope they sliced their fingers off on the sharp edges as they carried it away. Wonder if the finger you found belonged to a magpie...?
ReplyDelete; )
Still need to get mine up, got photos from 10 wreck sites now which I need to edit, research and add to my site.
Thanks fellas ..... I was a bit disapointed with the wider views of the site I took (i have turned up the colour a lot on the one here , overegged if honest ) , they all looked a bit lost and bland . It is yet another difficult site to do justice to ..... Thats the problem with the moors sites . If they are on a flat bit they can be a little dull ,thankfully those breaks in the clouds came along and gave us a little sky colour so the close up shots turned out quite well with use of the flash to lift the wreckage .
ReplyDeleteI was quite annoyed when i found out that it has only just been taken . Those tracks only looked a day old too ....surely they must have been done since the last heavy rainfall or the grasses would have stood back up !
PS .
Deleteneed to visit some mountain crash sites for a more dramatic view and shots !
And get em up Ian .
I too have some i have yet to post so am no one to be saying get the shots up :-)