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. |
