De Havilland Vampire VZ874

DE HAVILLAND VAMPIRE VZ874

A 'VZ'  in rocks denotes the location the aircraft impacted the mountain

 On the 12th October 1956  at 1910 hours this aircraft , the De Havilland Vampire VZ874 took off from RAF Valley on nearby Anglesey.  The pilot, a member of the Fleet air Arm, Sub-Lt R. Davies was in training on Vampires and had just begun his night flying training having already flown a total of 110 hours in the type. His brief that night was to fly locally and do circuits (landings and takeoffs at the airfield).
Flying by instruments alone and only ten minutes after taking off the aircraft crashed into the West of the summit of Mynydd Mawr in Snowdonia. Unfortunately Sub-Lt Davies was killed in the crash.
The aircraft is said to have exploded on impact many parts of the aircraft continued across the summit and fell into the the cwm below  on the East face of the  summit.
The alleged impact point is now marked by the aircraft's letters in the scree a V and a Z .We found nothing here now...but possibly didnt look hard enough because photographs of small fragments can be seen on the internet.
On descending into Cwm Planwydd we had more success finding engine parts and aircraft spars.
The Aircraft a D.H. 100 F.B.Mk 5 was built at Broughton as a batch order of 63 machines.

A spar and some engine parts in the Cwm

 De Havilland Mosquito MkII W4088

Undercarriage

On the 1st November 1944 this Mosquito Aircraft crashed into Mynydd Mawr in  North Wales.
Flying out of RAF Cranfield on a night navigation exercise the crew became misplaced and crashed into the hillside at a col below the summit. The aircraft broke up and was scattered over a wide area, the bulk of it coming to rest and burning out.
This location can still be seen. a liberal scattering of brass screws from the wooden aircrafts structure and molten alloy from the engines cover the site.
Further down the hill a substantial section of undercarriage remains still with timber extant attached.
Other smaller pieces of wreckage can be found with a careful search of the area.
Unfortunately both crewmen were killed in the crash. They were

Captain J. De Thuisy
and
Pilot Officer J. Marchal

Location where the aircraft burnt out

Our visit took place on the 71st anniversary of the crash.

Avro Lancaster NE132

Avro Lancaster NE132

Wreckage lays amongst the scree in the foreground 

Reduction gear still with stubs of the props attached

 On the 6th February 1945 flying out of RAF North Luffenham  , Lancaster NE132 crashed into the flank of Rhinog Fawr in North Wales whilst on a cross country training flight .
The aircraft apparently entered a Cumulo-Nimbus cloud,  ice formed upon the  fuselage and wings causing a catastrophic airframe failure . The aircraft broke up in flight plummeting down into the mountainside .

 Fatigue may have played its part for the aircraft had completed many missions over enemy territory before being 'retired' into No. 1653 HCU for use in training .

Engine parts

The whole crew of 7 men died.

F/O David H.R.Evans    Pilot
F/O Maxwell W. Moon  Navigator
Sgt. Charles W. Souden   Bomb Aimer
Sgt. George E.W. Hodge  Flt. Engineer
Sgt. Arthur D. Gash          Air Gunner
Sgt. Harold Neilsen          Air Gunner
Sgt. Alfred E. Oliff      Air Gunner/Wireless Op


F/O;s Evans and Moon were  Australian and members of the RAAF.
 Sgt Neilsen was from Chile .

It is known that two of the men managed to bale out but were too low for their parachutes to open properly .
The bodies of two other crewmen, F/O Evans and Sgt Gash  have never been found . This makes the main  impact point a war grave . Their names are on the Runnymede Memorial . F/O Evans on panel 283 and Sgt Gash on panel 272 .