Aircraft Wrecks in the Dark Peaks
My friend Craig called over for the weekend and although it meant that I got no painting done we went out to the Dark Peaks, near Glossop. The idea was to try and find some aircraft wrecks that I knew about from a book on the subject my parents bought me at Christmas. It didn't take long to locate the first one; a RB-29 called 'Over Exposed', which crashed on 3rd November 1948. All the crew were lost in the crash.
The wreckage was spread over a large area and has been left alone by passing walkers.
The next two were harder to find, the first one being the remains of a Lancaster Bomber KB993, which crashed on 18th May 1945, days after the Second World War had ended. Again, all the crew were lost.
The small memorial stone also mentions that a C-47 Skytrain 2108982 crashed nearby with the loss of the crew. We stumbled upon the wreckage of this crash almost by accident.
The wreckage from this aircraft was spread over a wide area as well, maybe because the impact area was at the edge of a deep gulley and some of the aircraft tumbled down there.
Larger parts of the airframe lay at the bottom of the gulley in a particularly hard to reach area.
The trail of debris lay all the way down the stream bed.
The Dark Peaks is part of the Pennine Ridge that is often called the Spine of England and is an area of high ground that rises very quickly on both sides. It seems that these pilots were taken unaware by the steep rise in the ground, especially as these crashes occurred at night or during heavy fog. It is good to see that they are undisturbed by walkers (despite some graffiti on some of the larger pieces) as they are war graves and should be treated with the due reverence that they demand.
The wreckage was spread over a large area and has been left alone by passing walkers.
The next two were harder to find, the first one being the remains of a Lancaster Bomber KB993, which crashed on 18th May 1945, days after the Second World War had ended. Again, all the crew were lost.
The small memorial stone also mentions that a C-47 Skytrain 2108982 crashed nearby with the loss of the crew. We stumbled upon the wreckage of this crash almost by accident.
The wreckage from this aircraft was spread over a wide area as well, maybe because the impact area was at the edge of a deep gulley and some of the aircraft tumbled down there.
Larger parts of the airframe lay at the bottom of the gulley in a particularly hard to reach area.
The trail of debris lay all the way down the stream bed.
The Dark Peaks is part of the Pennine Ridge that is often called the Spine of England and is an area of high ground that rises very quickly on both sides. It seems that these pilots were taken unaware by the steep rise in the ground, especially as these crashes occurred at night or during heavy fog. It is good to see that they are undisturbed by walkers (despite some graffiti on some of the larger pieces) as they are war graves and should be treated with the due reverence that they demand.
Very interesting pictures. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Moiterei, I'm glad you liked the post!
DeleteSurprising amount of wreckage still left after 65 years. Very interesting post, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you, yeah, it really is surprising how much survived. Plus it's a really popular area with walkers, but they leave well alone, which is very pleasing to see!
DeleteNicely shared, very surprising to see it's all still there!
ReplyDeleteCheers Fran, yep, I was also astounded how much of the planes were still kicking around. I am going to go searching for others in the book and see what else is left up on the Peaks.
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