Alan's Ramblings - aircraft wrecks tag

Wrecks walk

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 07:56:28 GMT

On Thursday last week I got a phone call from John Owen, one of the other rangers, asking me if I'd like to help out on a guided walk. I'd agreed before he told me that I'd just let myself in for, a 24km trog round seven of the aircraft wrecks that litter the Peak District. I got in contact with my friend Bob to get GPS coordinates for one of the wrecks I hadn't visited and he mentioned that he'd been having problems getting GPS data into Google Earth, so I decided I'd record the track of the walk with my GPS and see if I could get it into Google Earth. The GPS management I use (OziExplorer) can export data to Google Earth, so I've provided a 'fly through' KMZ file, if you have Google Earth installed you should be able to load the file and then press F10 twice to start the tour. Fortunately Google have just added high resolution photos of the Bleaklow area so you can actually get a fair idea of the terrain. The KML file also includes the boundary of the Peak District National Park as well as the route of the Pennine Way within the park.

Because of the distance involved we started bright and early at 9:00am. For me that just required a leisurely stroll the 150m from my front door to where the walk started. We had 14 people turn up at the starting point in Old Glossop, some who had come from as far as Norfolk for the walking festival. The forecast was for poor visibility , and it was spot on - there was a heavy overcast sky as we started down Mossy Lea, but thankfully it didn't look like it was going to rain.

We headed up Mossy Lea, passing Shire Hill on the right and Lightside on the left before heading up Doctor's Gate and and up Crooked Clough, climbing up past the footbridge and then stopping for a quick rest before heading up Ashton Clough. This view is west back down the valley, towards Glossop. The high ground to the left is Coldharbour Moor.

This is the bottom of Ashton Clough, a steep gorge that climbs 240m in about 750m, and the sides are even steeper. A Douglas C-47 (Dakota) crashed up on the edge of James's Thorn to the west (left) of this picture. Over the years bits of the wreckage has slid down into the bottom of Ashton Clough - here you can see the cylinder block of one of the radial engines.

This is the location where Douglas C-47 2108982 (Dakota) of 314th Troop Carrier Group USAAF crashed on 24th July 1945, just below James's Thorn. Unfortunately all the crew were killed. If you look at the GPS track just below this point you can see how we zigzagged up the hill, due to the steepness of the slope, some of the folks scrambled up the rocky bottom of Ashton Clough, those with a more nervous disposition took the (only slightly) easier route up the left hand side of the clough. The fence in the immediate foreground is part of the fence that was put around the entire Bleaklow plateau as part of the Moors for the Future project, and the rocky area in the background is Higher Shelf Stones.

Just above the wreck of the Dakota is all that remains of Lancaster KB993 of 408 Squadron R.C.A.F., which crashed 18th May 1945. The crew of six were all killed. This view is looking west back towards Glossop, and beyond that, Manchester. By the time we got here the low mist and cloud had burned off and it was really quite warm - spring is finally on the way!

We then headed over to the wreck just north of the trig point at Higher Shelf Stones. This is Superfortress B-29 44-61999 "Over Exposed" of the 16th Photographic Reconnaisance Squadron U.S.A.F. It crashed on 3rd November 1948 whilst descending through cloud, just days before the crew were due to return home to the USA. This is the biggest wreck site in the Dark Peak, a significant amount of wreckage remains. A couple of years ago a wedding ring belonging to one of the crew was found at the site, and was eventually returned to the granddaughter of the crew member. There is a memorial service here every Remembrance Sunday (the Sunday nearest to 11 November) for the crews of the 50+ wrecks in the Dark Peak area. The smoky mist near the ground is water vapour coming off the peat - as the mist burns off the surface of the peat heats very rapidly as it is so dark, and water starts to evaporate from it, re-condensing as it hits the still-cool air.

Due to time constraints we missed out the Botha and Wellington wrecks to the north and instead cut across to the Blenheim on Sykes Moor. This was Blenhein Mk.I L1476 of RAF 164 Squadron, which crashed on 30th January 1939 while on a training flight from RAF Church Fenton. This is hidden in the bottom of a grough and is quite difficult to find, but the GPS coordinates I was given by John Fielding were spot on. Finally we headed over towards John Track Well before crossing over the newly-replanked shooting path to Glossop Low and thence back down the quarry track to Old Glossop. All in all a splendid walk - any day when it doesn't rain and doesn't require thermals is a good one :-)

And now we return to our scheduled programming...

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 11:20:30 GMT

After wittering on about work and/or IT related stuff for the last few posts, I thought I'd better put something up about the Peak District, lest my enormous regular readership decided to go elsewhere, so here you are :-)

A couple of weeks ago Gary, Simon and myself went for a walk to see the Meteor wrecks on Sliddens Moss that I've previously written about - they'd seen the post and wanted to go see for themselves. After a slightly inauspicious start (Gary couldn't find the car park at Crowden) the weather gods were kind, unlike my previous walk with Gary. We walked up Crowden Little Brook to the waterfall at Meadow Clough, then up to the wrecks. We saw a common lizard on the way up, despite the name they aren't all that common on the moors. After visiting the wreck we wandered over to Crowden Castles for lunch, then down the Pennine Way to Laddow, across to Chew Reservoir before crossing over Mount Skip to Lads Leap, and thence back to the car park at Crowden.


Gary in front of various bits of one of the engines, including the turbine. I suspect these bits have been moved - people have been coming up and carting bits away for years.	It's pretty astonishing just how far the wreckage spread, and there's still a huge gouge in the moor where they hit, even though it is 50 years on. In the grough you can see part of one of the engine cowlings.	Simon with what is left of the tailplane. I believe that years ago this was far more complete, but people still come up and cut hunks off as souvenirs. Holme Moss radio mast is in the background, 740 ft high.

The view down Great Crowden Brook from Crowden Castles - despite the name an entirely natural feature. In the middle distance are Laddow Rocks, the Pennine Way passes over the top and then drops down into Crowden.

Sliddens wreck walk

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 08:10:33 GMT

I've been busy the last couple of weeks, and as a result I've been a bit remiss about posting stuff to my blog - as Bob reminded me yesterday - so I'm making up for it today. A couple of weeks ago I helped out on one of the guided walks arranged by the Ranger Service. We set off from Crowden and headed towards Lad's Leap - well, the main party did, I'd forgotten my boots, had to dash home for them and ended up playing catch up. It wasn't a particularly promising day, and by the time we got to Lad's Leap we were well up into the clag.

We then headed over towards Laddow, and by the time we got there about an hour later the weather had changed beyond recognition. This often happens, and it's one of the reasons why people often get lost in the Dark Peak, as as well as improving as it did here, it can get worse even quicker!

We headed north along the Pennine Way from Laddow, stopping where the path drops down towards Crowden Great Brook for lunch. Straight after lunch we crossed the brook, followed by a sharpish climb up onto Sliddens Moss - just the thing to settle your butties ;-) In the foreground is Crowden Castles, one of the many landslide features found in the Dark Peak. Behind that you can see the edge of the Bleaklow plateau, and in the far distance, Kinder.

One of the selling point of this particular walk was that it included a visit to the site where two meteor jets crashed on 12th April 1951. The lead pilot thought that he was near to Leeds, descended down through cloud to what he though was his airfield and flew into the ground. His wingman followed him into the ground, and the resulting wreckage is spread over about half a mile of moor.

After everyone had their fill of wreckage we headed off Sliddens towards the ruined sheepfold at the confluence of Meadow Clough and Crowden Little Brook, the valley in the foreground. In the background you can see the northern edge of the Bleaklow plateau.

Finally we had a rest and a snack in the sheepfold before heading back to Crowden. That's Bob, doing his best to add to the pollution from Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds. He's also got his GPS out, so I presume he didn't know where we were - right Bob? ;-)

Windy wrecks walk

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 06:01:10 GMT

As I said in my last entry, there was an article in The Times newspaper about the aircraft wrecks walk on Bleaklow, and as a result we had a larger than usual turnout so we split into two groups, with myself, Jean and Rachel taking the second group of 10 people. To say that it was windy today was an understatement, and the wind chill made it feel a lot colder than it actually was. The article in The Times made it sound like we were going to take the easy route from Snake summit, whereas we actually walked up from Glossop, which I think gave some people a bit of a nasty surprise. It didn't rain and we got back with the same number of people we set out with, plus everyone thanked us so I guess it must have been a success!

Whilst we were out, Andy and Mark, two of the full-timers, were over at Glossop Low loading heather bales into lift bags for next week's helicopter lift, so I think we got the easier deal.

I've also come across some more National Park-related information, namely the above press release, the new environmental website that the Peak District National Park has set up, the DEFRA website for the CROW act, the CROW act itself and the report describing the remedial work already carried out on the Pennine Way.

Aircraft wrecks walk

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 01:06:44 GMT

Peter Moulds, one of my friends in the Ranger Service posted the contents of an article entitled Walk of tribute to lives lost on a wing and a prayer from the 1st November edition of The Times as a comment on one of my other Peak District entries. The article is about some of the many WW2 aircraft wrecks that can be found across the Peak District.

I hope Peter doesn't mind but I've moved the information here instead to make it a bit more visible. The Ranger Service arranges guided walks for anyone who wants to visit some of the wrecks. The Times article gave dates for the guided walks, but the dates are incorrect, the first walk was on 22nd November, and the second one is on 6th December. And yes, I will be on duty :-)

You can find an on-line calendar of events within the Peak District National Park here