Wellington W5719

Wellington W5719

View down the valley into Edale

Bomb fragment

On  the 31st July 1941 Wellington W5719 crashed into Kinder Scout in the Peak District . It was returning from a raid on Cologne ,Germany .
It is alleged that the bombs had not been dropped due to cloud cover over the target and that the aircraft was returning to RAF Snaith in Yorkshire .
That night there was also low cloud over Northern England and their location must have been misjudged because they flew beyond the airfield  and into the flank of Kinder Scout .
On impact the bombs exploded flinging the rear turret away from the aircraft and down into Grindsbrook Clough  . In the rear turret the very fortunate Rear Gunner Sgt Earl Tilley survived . The other crew members all died in the impact .

Bomb fragments

They were
Sgt Percival Harold Charles Parrott   Pilot
Sgt Joseph Arthur Haswell  Pilot
Sgt Jack Douglas Evelle  Nav
Sgt Frederick Kenneth Webber  WO/AG   
Sgt Dennis Aloysius Monk  AG

and of course the survivor Sgt Earl Tilley AG

Sgt Evelle was a Canadian .
The pictures below show the site just below the perimeter path . Little remains today , small fragments and  lumps of molten alloy . There is a small  cross and plaque dedicated to the men .   On a recent visit I realised that some of the debris left at the crash site was bomb casing fragments from exploded bombs . There are sources that say the aircraft had dropped its bombs . These fragments at the very least prove that they didnt drop all the bombs .

Wellington Z8990

A visit on a snowy day

Wet conditions for this visit

 On the 17th of July 1942 the crew of  Wellington Z8980  flying out of RAF Lichfield on a night navigation exercise bailed out at a low level after losing control of the aircraft. the Wellington crashed into Ringinglow Moss and burnt out . The moor is a watery bog of a place unfit for humans !
The crew all survived this incident. They were

 Sgt Thomas Frank Thompson  Pilot RAFVR

 P/O John William Moore Nav RAAF

 Sgt Joseph Howe Levett Nav RAAF

 Sgt Kennington John Hythe Harris WO/AG RAAF

 Sgt Jacob Henry Roden WO/AG RAAF


Unfortunately , Sgt's Thompson , Harris and Roden all recovered enough from their injuries to continue serving. All  three were later killed on service ,two in action over occupied Europe and one by then F/O Thompson killed crashing   Oxford PH235 into high tension cables near Holmes Chapel in Cheshire .

A watch perhaps or some sort of cockpit instrument

LANCASTER PA411

Located above Tintwhistle in the Dark Peak

Flying out of RAF Lindholme on the 20th December 1948. The Lancaster crashed into the hillside on the stroke of midnight .

It was engulfed in flames except for the tail section which had snapped off and been thrown clear from the burning wreckage .One of the crew initially survived the impact only to die within an hour of the crash. His watch had reportedly stopped at 10 seconds to midnight .

Seven crew died in the crash they were

F/Sgt. J.S Thompson Pilot

F/Sgt. V. Graham Flt. Eng.

F/Lt P.M. Maskell Nav

F/Lt T.I. Johnson Inst.

F/Lt.D.W.H.Harris Inst

F/Sgt R.Smith Sig

F/Sgt W.A.Love Sig

This was a Mk. 1 Lancaster which was converted to Converted to Mk.VII FE (Far East),