Vickers Wellington HE226

Flying out of Turweston ,on the 28th May 1945 HE226 crashed into Bycliffe Moor , Conistone ,Yorkshire.

Part of No.17 OTU on a training flight the whole crew of five were killed .

They were

Pilot W/O E.C. Cole 

Nav Sgt. J. Mann 

BA F/Sgt. A.J. Griffiths 

 AG Sgt. J.Duncan

AG Sgt. H.H. Rawnsley

A huge amount of wreckage still can be found at this site in 5 or 6 pools and a spread over a wide area with small fragments can be seen .

Republic P-47 42-22758

little remains visible at this site now

 Taking off out of East Wretham in Norfolk on the 6th February 1944 as part of a flight of 5 P-47.s on route to BAD2 Wharton ,the pilot became lost in deteriorating weather . It is believed that he circled trying to find his whereabouts until he ran out of fuel . Then with little options open to him he began a gradual glide ,controlled descent , but unfortunately clipped one of the  ridges of Pendle Hill and crashed into its flank .

The pilot who was killed was 

Flt.Officer J.R.Runnells

At the site today can be seen a very few small fragments of wreckage and a number of exlpoded and unexploded 20mm shells. We also found amongst the heather what appears to be the tip of the aircrafts aerial antennae .

Handley Page Halifax DT578

Traces of paint still remain on some wreckage

On the 23rd of November 1943 DT578 flying out of No.4 Group's airfield at Ricall ,in a flight of 6 aircraft on a very stormy night, crashed into Great Whernside above Kettlewell.
3 of the 6 crashed that night ,Halifax Mk.II JB926
crashed over at Masham with all crew lost.

The crew of DT578 were also all killed , they were

Pilot Sgt. S Chadwick 1453551
AG Sgt. K. Vincent 1819902
Flt. Eng. Sgt. F.W. Robson 1451671
WO Sgt. D.P. Aitken 1322354
BA Sgt N. Martin 1600285
Nav Sgt. F. J. Robinson 538137
AG Sgt. Ernest Stabler 1784108 

I have found conflicting reports has to who was performing which function on this flight .

The shot below shows the main wreckage pool which lays in the beginnings of a stream  just below the impact point..

l

Looking down from the highest signs of the impact

Handley Page Halifax JB926

Main wreckage pool in front of Slipstone Crags on Agra Moor .

 The area surrounding this memorial is burnt earth covered with a scatter of tiny fragments .

The night of 23rd/24th November turned into tragedy for No4 Groups No.1658 Heavy Conversion Unit .
Six Halifax's took off from Ricall on a cross country training exercise , the weather was poor to begin with ,and rapidly detereorated , only two aircraft from this flight completed the task and returned to Ricall , one landed at another airfield and three crashed .

The crew of 8 were all killed

Pilot Sgt. R.E.C. Bacon
Flt Eng Sgt G.H. Manley
Flt Eng Sgt. J. Titterington
Nav F/O H. McCarthy
BA F/Sgt J.J. MacGillivray (RCAF)
WO Sgt B.F. Taylor
AG Sgt, A.J. Winton
AG Sgt.D.E. Phillips

JB926 was reportedly heard to circle before going into a steep dive . Icing up of the flying surfaces is thought to be the cause . The crash was at high speed and the aircraft burned on impact . Evidence of which can clearly be seen at the crash site .

No.1658 HCU was first formed on 7th October 1942 adopting the word 'Heavy' in the name on 1st November the same year. It supplied airmen to No.4 Group .
The HCU,s didnt teach men to fly as such but rather prepared trained men to fly heavy bombers (usually 4 engined ones ,Halifaxes for No4 Group Squadrons) .

Boeing B-17G 44-8683 ''Dear Mom''

looking up to the impact site from the present day wreckage pool

a number can still be made out 

Bottom of shot can be seen the highest wreckage I could find

On the 17th of May 1945 B-17G 44-8683 flying out of Knettishall on a training flight crashed into Great Whernside , Yorkshire in deteriorating weather .

The crew of 5 were all killed . 

Pilot 1st Lt. Harry J. Cole
Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Vance L. Ferguson
Nav 2nd Lt. James M. Young
Eng Sgt. Hoyt E. Dixon
W. Op. S/Sgt Dario Battista 

The plane had been named 'Dear Mom'

At the location it is still easy to see scarring where the aircraft crashed ....scars are even spaced that seem to indicate where  the engines impacted.

De Havilland Dominie X7394

Both engines were still at the site last time I visited this being the lower of the two

This aircraft of No.782 Sqn. Royal Navy .
crashed into Broad Crag in cloud , in the English Lake District on the 30th August 1946.

5 crew and passengers were all killed. At the time being used as an air ambulance, the aircraft contained medical staff and a patient .

Sub Lt. S. K. Kilsby Pilot
CPOA H. J. Clark
Cdr Sgn W .T. Gwynne -Jones Surgeon
SBA L.H. Watkinson Sick Birth Attendant
CWM C.R. Allwright DSM Patient
This is a Gypsy III engine

Meteors WA791 and VZ518

At 9:15am on Thursday 12th April 1951 a flight of four Meteor jet aircraft took off from RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York for a training flight. Flying the lead pair were Flight Lieutenant David Merryweather Leach (WA791) and Flying Officer Tony Hauxwell (VZ518). The flight was to climb to around 30,000ft where the two pairs would carry out attacks on each other.

The weather forecast for the day was for complete cloud cover from 1,500ft to 20,000ft, but on reaching 30,000ft the four aircraft were still in thick cloud and radioed Linton on Ouse to inform them that the flight would be returning home. All four aircraft turned back towards Linton-on-Ouse, though after having descended back through 20,000ft Flt Lt Leach reported he could see what he thought was Leeds through a break in the cloud and he and F/O Hauxwell were going to proceed down. The second pair could not see through the cloud and not being entirely sure of their position radioed their intention to remain at 20,000ft. After some 5 minutes the lead pilot of the second pair, Flying Officer Leslie Hayward, attempted to contact Flt Lt Leach with no success. RAF Northern Radar at Lindholme near Doncaster attempted to contact the pair again with no success.

Following this a search was mounted with wreckage being spotted later in the day with a ground team reaching the scene the following afternoon. The two aircraft had continued to descend through cloud and without ever breaking out of the bottom of the overcast and had flown into the top of the moor in formation. The marks left by the two aircraft are still clearly visible.

The pilots who were both killed were

F/O Anthony H. Hauxwell		VZ518
Flt. David M. Leach		WA791

Bristol Blenheim L4873

wing spar

impact crater

On the 23rd March 1940 Bristol Blenheim L4873 flying out of RAF Upwood on a formation flying exercise with two other Blenheims became lost in cloud .
The two other aircraft found clear sky and returned to base but the pilot and crew of L4873 became increasingly disorientated in the cloud .
Eventually, it is presumed, they decided to try and descend under the cloud cover to try and get a fix on thier position.
Instead of finding the cloud base they found the shoulder of Foel Wen in the Berwyn Mountains ,North Wales. The aircraft was utterly destroyed on collision with the mountain.
A teardrop shaped impact crater can still be clearly seen , its shape indicative of the angle of descent .
A substantial amount of still painted (in part) aircraft fragments can be seen amongst the deep grass . Fuselage parts showing signs of impact crumpling , wing sections less damaged but now heavily corroded.
The three man crew were all killed

Sgt. Maurice Charles Cotterell Pilot
Sgt Ronald Jesse Harbour Observer
AC2 Kenneth Charles Winterton WO+AG

Bristol Blenheim IV in Finnish colours

P-38 42-12905

 

 On the 26th January 1943 whilst in a flight of Forty-five P-38,s from Goxhill to Langford Lodge in Northern Ireland , Two aircraft , this one P-38G 42-12905 and P-38G 42-12928, collided and crashed . Both pilots died .
1st. Lt. H.L. Perry flew this aircraft
2nd Lt. S.L. White .....the other !

Here is a link to the other P-38 involved in the collision
http://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/lockheed-p-38-42-12928.html

Susan inspecting the wreckage , dragged through the mud , wet , cold and fed up. We decided not to continue to the other P-38 today . It lies over a mile away , and conditions under foot were difficult to say the least . Visibility was down to 50m maximum , often less

Lockheed P-38 42 -12928

P-38,s lined up on the runway in Northern Ireland .

Large wing section ,flaps are still attached .
On the 26th January 1943 a flight of P-38 were being flown from Goxhill in Lincolnshire to Langford Lodge in Northern Ireland .
Two of these aircraft collided with each other over The Forest of Bowland , Lancashire. They both crashed into the moor about 1 and a half miles apart. According to reports neither pilot attempted to bail out . They may have been injured or killed in the initial collision.

This aircraft was piloted by

2nd Lt Stephen. L. White 

Who was killed along with the pilot of the other aircraft

1st Lt Henry. L. Perry

he main aircraft in this picture is 42-12908 , the number lies between the two that crashed here, so its reasonable to assume that this is pretty much what they looked like .