Gloster Javelin XA662

Gloster Javelin XA662

Ian giving some scale to the remaining wreckage , this large part is the exhaust pipe

Tons of wreckage at this crash site , and nobody died in this one thanks to ejector seat technology .

The wreckage is spread in quite a wide arc across the moor . Close to a number of grouse butts, we were quite suprised at the amount remaining at this site with such reletively easy access.
The crash took place on 29th September 1959 .
An engine caught fire close to RAF Leeming and in the 30 miles between here and there ,both engines failed and the two man crew ejected . Survival of this crash would have been unlikely judging by the condition of the wreckage .
The Pilot was
Student pilot F/O C.P. Cowper
the Navigator and trainer
Capt. Robert E. Nietz (USAF)

Its located on East Bolton Moor , above Castle Bolton in the Yorkshire Dales .

In 1942 a Captain Valentine Baker was killed testing a prototype aircraft , his business partner Sir James Martin ,greatly upset by his death , came up with the idea of forcibly removing the pilot from an aircraft doomed to crash . By 1945 static ejections had been achieved . 1946 brought the first in flight trial ejections all of which were successful. The system began being introduced into aircraft from then on . The first real ejection came on the 30th May 1949 . The pilot Jo Lancaster had his life saved . The company ,still going strong today proudly boasts the number of lives saved as being 7439 at the time of me writing this short account . An incredibly large  number !

 Here can be seen one of  the tyres still on site  from XA662 , below can be seen the same section of tyre from the Javelin at Yorkshire Air Museum XH767 .

It doesnt look in a great deal better condition than the one thats been in a crash and out on the moor these past 55 years .

Javelin XH767 at YAM