Naval Air Station Killingholme

The remaining jetty

The Naval Air Station at Killingholme on the Humber in North Lincolnshire was formed in 1914. It closed in 1919 after a short spell as a US Navy Base.
Seaplanes were flown out of here by the Royal Navy in order to provide protective cover to a number of sensitive and vital establishments in the area such as the adjacent Admiralty Oil Depot and the Humber ports.  There was a large single slipway which has now been demolished. The slipway that still exists in ruins is one of two that were built in front of the hard-standing and hangers to allow access for the aircraft to the sea. In the old picture taken from the sea of an aircraft in front of the hangers this slipway can be seen on the right. It is the Northern most slipway.  Apart from some timber piles from the other slipway nothing else remains on site. The hangers were dismantled in 1919 and rebuilt to provide Grimsby with a bus station. Apparently they are still there hidden behind a brick facade in Grimsby.

Hangers behind with slipways to either side

What remains is in very poor condition and its probably not going to last much longer

Sabre F4 XD712

On the 16th June 1955 whilst flying in a four aircraft formation XD712 broke up in mid air killing the pilot  Flying Officer  Lawrence Michael Percival Harryman.
The official report states ''This a/c No.3 in a tail chase was seen to commence to pull out from a dive. Shortly before the nose came above the horizon the a/c rolled onto its back and entered cloud. It was next seen by ground witnesses with the forward part of the fuselage on fire and cartwheeling through the air. When the remainder of the a/c crashed the pilot, still strapped in the ejector seat, was thrown clear and killed.''
It goes on to say that ''It is considered that the pilot blacked out when attempting to follow his No.2 and on regaining consciousness overstressed the a/c to such an extent that it broke up''

A reliable witness on the ground says that the aircraft was flying level when it broke up rather than pulling out of a dive. This same witness visited the area in which the aircraft fragments fell to earth. They were scattered around a land drain near a road bridge across the drain south of the Humber in Lincolnshire a few miles from Elsham.  The pilot was found still in his ejector seat in the drain itself.

No trace of the crash is now visible in the area. There may be fragments in the fields or the waste from dredging the drains but we found nothing.

Looking North toward the Humber

Handley Page Halifax BB310

Handley Page Halifax BB310

The view from the still visible impact crater amongst the scree . Small pieces of wreckage can still be seen deep amongst the rocks. The view indicates the probable line of flight of the aircraft prior to the crash .

The memorial just next to the impact point

On the 12th April 1944 Halifax BB310 crashed into Blea Crag on Great Dun Fell in the North Pennines . The crew were in their 8th hour of a training flight . They were flying out of RAF Longtown in Cumbria from 1674 HCU which provided crews for Coastal Command . Indeed BB310  had been a Coastal Command aircraft with 502 Squadron prior to being used for training purposes . It was built by LAPG  as a MkII Series 1 between November 1942 and January 1943 . It was a 'Special' which meant it was fitted with a Mk3 ASV radar and it could have had its armament uprated too to offset the change in the German submarines tactics of attempting to shoot attacking aircraft out of the sky instead of diving .
The aircraft exploded upon impacting the fell ,creating a still visible crater within the large scree rocks . The entire crew were killed , probaly instantly .
They were:

F/O Paul B. Stevens RCAF, pilot
F/O Sydney Brookes RAFVR, second pilot
Flt Sgt William ''Alan'' Johnson RAFVR DFM, wireless op / air gunner
Flt Sgt Frank Pess RCAF, wireless op / air gunner
Flt Sgt Harold S. Seabrook RCAF, wireless op / air gunner
Sgt Robert J. Littlefield RAFVR, flight engineer
Sgt William J.  Morrison RAFVR, navigator
Sgt Hugh Dunningham RAFVR, wireless op / air gunner
Sgt Dean W.  Swedberg RCAF, wireless op / air gunner

F/O Stevens whilst part of the Royal Canadian Air Force was  actually an American rather than  a Canadian .
Our visit this day was on the 70th anniversay of the crash . The weather was dreadful but cleared long enough whilst we were at the crash site for me to take a few pictures .

The plaque placed as a memorial in 1994

Paint still adorns this fragment

small fragments some showing signs of an intense fire

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

Blackburn Botha L6202

Blackburn Botha L6202

The engine that never gets found ..... I stood on it but missed it ...good job one of us was looking !

Flying out of Hooton Park on a training flight on the 28th August 1943. L6202 crashed into the mountain Llwytmoor in Snowdonia ,Wales.
The weather was fine and clear except for the peaks of the Welsh mountains .
The weather though ,deteriorated after the crash which resulted in the search and rescue operation taking over 5 days to complete. The aircraft must have hit the mountain at high speed ,  the engines tumbling down the mountain from the impact point , a large gouge can still be seen in the rock made by the engine just prior to becoming wedged in this prominent position. The second engine made it all the way down the very steep slope  to the stream . 
The 4 crewmen were all killed .

Sgt. George M. Heppinstall     Pilot
Sgt. William Fearson               WO/AG
Sgt. Douglas Hargreaves       WO/AG
Sgt. Wendlin Bettin                   WO/AG

Sgt. Bettin was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force .

The usual shot !

some of the wreckage that is strewn down the hillside

Hawker Hurricane PG472

Hawker Hurricane PG472

 On the 2nd February 1945 flying  out of RAF Calverley in Cheshire on a training flight , this aircraft was involved in a collision with another hurricane (PZ848) . Both aircraft plummeted to the ground killing the pilots  . 

The pilots were 

Flt.Sgt. Thomas S. Taylor  PG472 
and 
W/O Norman Thomas Huckle PZ848

PZ848 is located on nearby farmland . LAIT  excavated the sites a few years ago and took much wreckage from them . That said it is good to see wreckage at this one , hurricane wreckage is thin on the ground so to speak !

Avro Anson N4919

Avro Anson N4919

Pictured here with the crags in the background are the few remaining scraps of wreckage , including two wing front edges. 

 This aircraft crashed on Wolf Hole Crag in the Forest of Bowland on 9th February 1944.

Flying out of Millom the pilot , Flight Seargent Dobson , had little choice but to descend due to icing up of the wings , realising he was over high ground he attempted and succeeded in a forced landing . All of the 5 crew members survived .

This crash site is a fair old trek out into the middle of nowhere , and once there the wreckage took some finding . So much so , that I only found it just as I gave up looking and started to return back to the car. I had scoured over 100s of metres of ground and looked through the Rocks in search of the wreckage and found nothing at all.
It was almost a very frustrating trip out , but turned out to be a good one in the end !

This location is at SD 6293 5771 as much as   80m from the only given location  that I had .
Not having a Sat Nav I confirmed this location by pacing on a compass bearing, North, to a wall that was only 50 paces away  and then another 18 paces  along the wall  to a turn so depending on the OS map accuracy I am fairly sure of this location . I am not gonna be far out over such a short distance  and am certain anyone using this 8 figure  GR will have no problem finding the wreckage for as long as it remains in this location. 

Below, my sticks mark the exact GR I had in relation to this site . I could find nothing visible at all , despite over an hour of searching in a grid pattern from this point .
I did though eventually find the wreckage pool , if not the impact point , a long long way away .
This point , the sticks , GR ....SD 630577
 I was on my own today , Ian would like this place , its the middle nowhere surrounded by mile upon mile of featurless moor !

Curtiss Tomahawk AH744

Curtiss Tomahawk AH744

Ian walking past a pit probaly used to bury the wreckage ...the magpies have been busy , as usual !

On the 10th February 1943 on the slopes of Little Dodd in County Durham this aircraft crashed in low cloud on a training exercise flying out of Catterick .
The 29 year old pilot was a relative novice . It was three days before the wreckage was found on this bleak desolate moor.
The pilot who was killed was 

P/O Harry Emmerson Wright

He is buried at Catterick.

This aircraft was part of a batch intended for France in 1940 , but before they could be delivered France fell to the Nazis . The British agreed to take over the order but the Tomahawk proved a poor fighter in the European theatre , so was reduced to being used as a training aircraft .This squadron was used in conjunction with Anti aircraft defence training .
It had poor armament , no self sealing fuel tanks , no armour plate or armoured glass to protect the pilot and was deemed unsuitable to fight  German aircraft.

The aircraft must have cartwheeled across the moor for the wrecakge is spread along a narrow axis  for quite a distance .

Some interesting wreckage remains on the moor , part of the cockpit floor , a wing part which includes the openings for loading the guns and some wiring amongst the usual assortment of scraps 

wing section with gun loading openings

Wing section salvaged from the site now held at North East Aircraft Museum , this is a shot from their website

.

 upper wing section  , this could be the bit next to the fuselage that remains on site and may link up to the bit at NEAM

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..

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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) .

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

Hampden AE831

Looks like the sign has been replaced since my last visit , says the same but must be a new one by the looks of things  or at very least has been cleaned and had a paint job!.
This was one of my earliest crash site  visits and I have not done a proper write up of this site .So i am redressing this now !
On the 21st January 1942 this aircraft was returning from an abortive leaflet dropping operation over France in bad weather to its base at RAF Skellingthorpe, when it crashed into high ground at Cluther Rocks on the edge of the Kinder plateau .
The crew were lost and looking for Ringway Airport and had even been in contact with them before they crashed . The Hampden burnt out and all the crew were killed .
They were

Sgt . R.G. Heron    Pilot
Sgt. W.C. Williams    Nav
Sgt. W.T. Tromans    WO
Sgt. S.A. Peters        WO/AG

Sgt. Heron and Sgt. Williams were members of the  Royal Australian Air Force

Wellington BJ697

BJ697 took off from Chipping Warden on a night- time cross-country training exercise on the 26th September 1942 .
Off route presumably lost the aircraft descended through cloud crashing near to Fan Hir on Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons .
The crew of four all initially survived the impact , one unharmed three badly injured . Subsequently , three days later, the pilot died of his injuries.
The crew were

F/Sgt Kenneth S. H. Bird (died of injuries, 29.9.42)
Sgt J. Head (unhurt, helped locals carry the injured off the hill )
Sgt. W.D. Barr Injured
Sgt.W.A.Fairweather Injured

Flight Sergeant Bird is buried in St Leonard's churchyard, Cliddesden, Hampshire.

I have found mention of a Sgt Troubridge who is alleged to have been in the crew and was an injured survivor in the crash but have been unable to substantiate this claim at the present time .

The scar which marks the imact is now denoted with a small cairn

Bristol Blenheim L9039

 On the 8th April 1940 flying out of RAF Bicester L9039 crashed into The Carneddau mountain range in Snowdonia North Wales.
The crew of 4 were on a cross country training flight when they broke formation and crashed  high on the mountain .the wreckage is strewn from the impact point down to the boggy  valley floor below.
The crew who were all killed were

Sgt Alfred Ernest Hall Pilot
Sgt.Fred Graham ObsSgt. Anthony Charles Catton Obs
LAC Geoffrey Halstead JamesW/O+Obs