Astrecks

Stirling Bomber * Sabre Jets * Skytrain 

Superfortress * Lancaster * Liberator * Consul

*  GPS Co-ordinates *

Did you know there are over 50 aircraft wreckage sites in the Derbyshire Peak District?

A great many of the wrecks are from World war II and include: Lancasters, Halifax & Wellington bombers also American Liberator and Super Fortress bombers and a Thunderbolt. There are some jet aircraft from the 50's and 60's. 

I have visited many of these sites in the past and intend to revisit them again in the near future with a view to updating my photos of the wrecks. This would not be possible if it wasn't for two brilliant books: DARK PEAK AIRCRAFT WRECKS 1&2 by Ron Collier (Wharncliffe Books) who's 12 years of research into the history of the wrecks, collecting the eyewitness accounts of local people and of the survivors themselves. All references on my site are from these books.

Click on the pictures below to take you to Amazon Books UK.

 

I would also like to add that many, if not most of the wrecks are fast disappearing because of trophy hunters.

These wreck sites are memorials to all the brave airmen that died in the defence of our country, please leave the wreckage as you find it for future generations to remember them by.

Military aircraft wrecks remain the property of the Crown and therefore should not be removed without permission.

You will find the map reference for each wreck at the title heading of every wreck listed on this page, these where the original map references I used to find the wrecks initially, however I have since re-visited some of the wrecks since I aquired a GPS unit and they are here

astrecks(at)googlemail(dot)com

 

Stirling LJ628, 1654 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF, crashed on the 21st July 1944 on Upper Commons Map reference SK 202 957

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Photographs from left to right (1) A bulkhead from the fuselage. (2) one of the huge wheel complete with tyre and inner-tube.

The Shorts Stirling bomber was relegated to a training roles due to its operational shortcomings caused by the original design specifications that a maximum wingspan of 100 feet was required in order for it to fit into aircraft hangers.

It was notoriously underpowered and difficult to get airborne. The Heavy Conversion Unit was used to train pilots converting from smaller single engine aircraft to multi-engine bombers.

 At 10.05 am on the morning of the 21^st July 1944 Flying Officer O’Leary, as flying instructor pushed the Stirling bomber along the runway at maximum speed before eventual take-off from Wigsley. Once they where at 10,000 feet F.O. Gardiner was given the feel of flying a four-engine bomber. They began practising flying with one engine stopped and then started a rated descent into cloud cover.

 In the nose Bomb-Aimer, Jim Coulson had began familiarising himself with the layout and swung himself up into the front turret, looking around he saw cloud swirling around, he then began making notes in his book.  Glancing up briefly, he could hardly believe his eyes, and yelled into the intercom “Pull up! Pull the flaming nose up Skipper!” Ground was flashing past a few feet beneath the aircraft. F.O. Gardiner took action immediately and pulled hard back on the control column, the Stirling reared up and  ‘bellied’ on the moor. They were forty five miles east of where they thought they were.

 The initial impact bounced the rear turret off the plane complete with Van Nierkirk in it. The Wings ripped off as the aircraft bumped across the moor. The fuselage had broken into several sections. Six of the men were able to scramble out of the escape hatches that had opened on impact, the two flight engineers were able to walk out of the open end of the fuselage. With eight men relatively un-scathed, the Squadron Leader noticed two men were missing and detailed some men to run back to the rear gun turret where they found Lennox van Nierkirk  under the broken tail of the aircraft, badly injured but very much alive. They found Bomb Aimer, Jim Coulson, still trapped in the front gun turret, but were able to cut him free in around fifteen minutes. Both of the injured were wrapped in parachutes to keep them warm and they both recovered from their injuries, and eventually returned to their flying units. Remarkably all ten men survived this crash.

 Crew list:-

• Pilot, Flying Officer Gardiner.
• Co-Pilot, Flying Officer O’Leary.
• Navigator, Sergeant McDonald.
• Bomb-Aimer, Sergeant Jim Coulson.
• Wireless Operator, Sergeant Burroughs.
• Rear Gunner, Lennox van Nierkirk.
• Mid Upper Gunner, Sergeant Austin.
• Flight Engineer, Sergeant John Gittings.
• 2^nd Flight Engineer,(un-named)
• Squadron Leader, (un-named)

 

Update: The largest pieces of the wreckage were removed from the moor in 2005 for the http://www.stirlingproject.co.uk/

 

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 Sabres XD707 & XD730 - 66 Squadron RAF crashed 22nd July 1954 while on exercise from Linton on Ouse at Ashop Moor Map Reference SK 075 902

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Top row  left to right: (1) Main view of the wreckage site. (2) Someone is clearly trying to cut the wreckage up and nicking it! (3) Full engine view. (4) Close-up of engine.

    

Middle row left to right: (1) Remains of the rubber fuel tanks.(2) One of the two tail units. (3) Undercarriage.(4) The condition of aircraft grade aluminium after 50years on the moor.

   

Bottom row left to right (1) A main wing section. (2) A second tail unit, this can be seen in GE. (3) Look how new that thread looks! (4) A memorial stone place by ATC.

On exercise from Linton-on-Ouse Flying Officer Jim Horne and Flight Lieutenant Alan Green descended through low cloud to check ground position. It is thought that they collided whilst climbing to fly above Kinder Scout. Both aircraft clipped the top of the hill above Kinder Reservoir and spilled on to the Ashop Moor side of the hill, There were no survivors.

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) 314th Troop Carrier Group  USAAF, crashed at Shelf Moor on the 24th July 1945 Map Reference SK 082 949

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Left to right: (1) Main undercarriage. (2) A memorial on a section of the main wing. (3) I think this is some of the fuselage.(4) A fuselage section.

On the 26th of July 1945, Sergeant Pridgeon and his girlfriend were walking on the moors, when they came across what they thought was the wreckage of a Lancaster bomber that they knew had crashed in this area nine weeks before. After the sergeants girlfriend took a photograph of him stood at the wreckage when she commented that she could see someone was asleep in the grass. Sergent Pridgeon had seen enough corpses to know  that the crumpled figure in an RAF uniform was in fact dead. He realised that they had come upon a new crash scene. After a further search he found the rest of the crew, and they were all dead. 

The Dakota had been carrying a Jeep amongst other things and on impacts had broke loose from its securing ropes, hurling itself into the crew before bouncing further up the valley.

The Dakota had taken off on the 24th July 1945 on a routine supply mission from Leicester to Renfrew in Scotland. The pilot must have chosen to fly direct, against advice that the cloud was low over the Pennines. There were four other crew and two passengers.

The crew list:

• Pilot, First Lieutenant George L. Johnson
• Co-pilot, First Lieutenant Earl W. Burns
• First Lieutenant Beverly W. Izlar
• Crew Chief, Sergeant Theodore R McCrocklin
• Radio Operator, Sergeant Francis M. Maloney
• Corporal Grover R. Alexander, USAAF
• Leading Aircraftsman, J.D. Main. RAF
     

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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Superfortress RB-29A  91st Reconnaissance Wing, 311th Air Division, Strategic Air Command, crashed on the 3rd of November 1948 at Higher Shelf Stones Map Reference SK 090 950

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The wreckage is strewn over a large area; the photographs at this time only show one area where memorial wreathes are laid every year in November on Remembrance Sunday.

 

Crashed at Higher Shelf Stones whilst on a twenty five minute flight from Scampton in Lincolnshire to Burtonwood USAF base near Warrington. After filing a flight plan, and being advised of broken cloud at 2,000 to 4,000 feet, the pilot took off at around 10.15 am. Around twenty minutes in to the flight the pilot nosed the aircraft down through the overcast to establish position. Shelf Moor rises to over 2,000 feet, it is unlikely that any of the crew saw the ground before they hit it. Apart from the crew of thirteen the aircraft was carrying sacks of mail homeward bound to the USA, and a payroll of £7,000 for the staff at Burtonwood.

The Crew list. 

• Pilot, Captain Landon P. Tanner.
• Co-pilot, Captain Harry Stroud.
• Engineer, Technical Sergeant Ralph Fields.
• Navigator, Sergeant Charles Wilbanks.
• Radio Operator, Staff Sergeant Gene A. Gartner.
• Radar Operator, David D. Moore.
• Camera Crew, Technical Sergeant Saul R. Banks.
• Camera Crew, Sergeant Donald R, Abrogast.
• Camera Crew, Sergeant Robert I. Doyle.
• Camera Crew, Private First Class William M. Burrows.
• Crew, Corporal M. Franssen.
• Crew, Corporal George Ingram.
• Photographic advisor from the Motion Picture Unit, Captain Howard Keel.

Below is a GE view of the wreck area. The yellow line is my downloaded GPS track

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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Lancaster KB993,  408 Squadron RCAF, crashed on the 18th May 1945 at James's Thorn Map reference SK 077 949

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Such was the force of the impact and the resulting fireball, this small mound is all that remains of Lancaster KB993.

Just ten days after the war in Europe had ended and four weeks before the 408 Sqrn were due to return home to Canada, one flight crew were out on a training flight. As it was a local flight the navigator 'Gee Sam' was not on board. They took off  from Linton-on-Ouse in the early evening. At 10pm the Lancaster was circling over the town of Glossop, 50 miles from the airfield at Linton. the pilot must have been attempting to establish his position when he flew into the top of the moor. The crash was witnessed by Ken Bancroft, who raised the alarm. All six crew perished.

 

The crew list:

• Pilot, Flying Officer Anthony Arthur Clifford.
• Bomb Aimer, Flying Officer David Fehrman.
• Wireless Operator, Warrant Officer Michael Cecil Cameron.
• Air Gunner, Flight Sergeant Clarence Halvorson.
• Air Gunner, Flight Sergeant Leslie Claude Hellerson.
• Flight Engineer, Pilot Officer Kenneth McIvor.

 

Such was the impact of this crash and the inferno that followed it, very little wreckage remains but the impact area can be seen in Google Earth

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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Liberator B-24J 42-52003 USAAF, 310 Ferrying Squadron, crashed at Mill Hill 11th October 1944 Map reference SK 055 906

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Photographs from left to right. (1) The two engines and a wing section in the background.(2) Undercarriage.(3) Wing section and a chunk of armour plate.(4) Me and one of the two engines.

Crashed while on a ferrying flight from Burtonwood near Warrington to Hardwick near Norwich. On a very foggy morning in October, Pilot Lieutenant Creighton Haopt and Flight Engineer Jerry Najvar thundered down the runway into the grey wall of fog, so bad was the weather even the birds were walking! After smashing into several runway lights and two failed attempts to get airborne, the Liberator finally lumbered into the air, but only just.

It had been a shaky take off, but Haopt became more relaxed when he gained full control of the aircraft. Jerry unbuckled his harness and went aft to check for damage that might have occurred during the take off. Back in the cockpit Jerry gave the thumbs up that everything was ok and proceeded to take out a map, he noticed they were on a direct course for high ground. "I checked the altimeter and it was indicating 1,500 feet, we were too low to clear the hills," recalled Jerry. " I Jabbed my finger at the high ground on the map and read off the elevation for that area. Then I indicated with my thumb that we had better get some height." Haopt nodded as if he understood, but he made no attempt to climb. Had he misunderstood the signal to climb for a 'thumbs up - all's well' indication? Jerry was growing more concerned over pilot's inaction. Jerry peered out of the cockpit window when he suddenly saw something dark pass under the aircraft. " I grabbed the control column and pulled back on it with all my strength , the pilot realised what I was doing and tried to help." They were too late, they were travelling at 150 mph as the underbelly of the aircraft started slicing through the heather, then onto moorland grass and rocks, the aircraft disintegrated along the way. Jerry remembers waking up in hospital, and apart from the shock and some cuts to the face and some bruising, he had got off lightly. Haopt had more serious facial injuries, however they both made a full recovery.

Crew list:-

• Pilot, Lieutenant Creighton Haopt.
• Flight Engineer, Sergeant Jerome (Jerry) Najvar.

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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Consul TR-RPM, Icelandic Airline, crashed at Crow Stone Edge,12th April 1951.

Map reference SK 174 967

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This crash site was visited on the same day as the Stirling crash site.

The aircraft had begun life as an Oxford in 1942 and was used by the RAF as a trainer after the war the aircraft manufacturer re-purchased the Oxford and converted it for civilian use by adding windows and passenger seats. The Consul was purchased by an Icelandic airline and was on its delivery flight from Croydon piloted by Pall Magnusson aged twenty six, and acting as the wireless operator was an Englishman, Alexander Watson aged forty two and a passenger another Icelander Johann Rist aged thirty five.

For what ever reason the pilot decided to fly visual rather than on instruments, despite a poor weather forecast and high wind speeds.

A lone walker, Ronald Yates of Sheffield discovered the wreckage and the bodies of the crew. They were probably killed instantly.

The Aviation Accident Investigation Branch found there was no mechanical fault with the aircraft and concluded that the aircraft had met the ground at full power. It is likely the pilot got caught in the cloud and climbed  to avoid high ground but with head winds of seventy miles an hour slowing his progress he must have miscalculated his position and when he descended through the cloud to establish visual, he flew straight into the ground.

Crew/Passenger list:-

• Pilot Pall Magnusson
• Wireless Operator Alexander Watson
• Passenger Johann Rist

 

This wreckage can be seen in Google Earth. If you have GE installed then click here to open/save the placemark.

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I have visited many of the fifty wreck sites, but these were prior to owning a GPS, the co-ords below are of wrecks I have re-visited since I acquired one.The co-ordinates that appear on my website are either ones I have aquired from other sources or are mine derived from triangulation at the wreck site.

With a hand compass triangulation can be difficult and almost impossible if the visibilty is poor, it requires taking a bearing on features that can be identified on the map and a corresponding line drawn on the map (magnetic variation has to be taken into account as well!)

Several features (at least 3) are observed and plotted on the map, and where the lines coincide a grid reference is determined.  It is for this reason, I cannot guarantee the references will bring you to the wrecks sites spot on!

If you are viewing the placemarks in GE then the errors are multiplied further as GE is based on a different mapping datum to OS. There are mathematic fomulas to correct this error, but i find it too complex, and it still does not guarantee 100% accuracy.

As you can imagine wreckage can be strewn over a large area, where possible I have taken a GPS co-ord at specific groups of wreckage.

Note: My mapping software and GPS are set to:-

Units - British Grid

Map Datum - Ord srvy GB.

WAAS - Enabled (optional)

The GPS and mapping software have to be set in this way otherwise they will not give the correct co-ordinates if transfered to an Ordnance Survey map and vice versa.

If the co-ordinates listed below are entered into a GPS unit that has the Map Datum set to WGS 84 then the co-ords could be upto 150 metres out of position in any direction! 

Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) is a differential GPS designed to increase the accuracy  of your GPS unit to as little as 5 metres.

WAAS is a United States system and is not available in Europe, however with WAAS enabled on your GPS your unit will receive differential signals from the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and again should bring your GPS accuracy down to 5 metres.

A GPS unit cannot and should not be used as an alternative to a map and compass!

Please do not attempt to go out on the hills without a map and compass and the ability to use them!!!!

You can get some tips on navigating with a map and compass on my navigation page

GPS Co-ords are:

Sabres XD707 & XD730 - 66 Squadron RAF crashed 22nd July 1954 while on exercise from Linton on Ouse at Ashop Moor. Map reference 075902

1.  SK 07545 90395
2.  SK 07280 90267
3.  SK 07304 90206

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Liberator B-24J 42-52003 USAAF, 310 Ferrying Squadron, crashed at Mill Hill 11th October 1944. Map reference 055906.

1. SK 05755 90604
2. SK 05743 90653
3. SK 05709 90673
4. SK 05849 90653

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C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) 314th Troop Carrier Group  USAAF, crashed at Shelf Moor on the 24th July 1945. Map reference 082949

1. SK 07924 94773 (wing and memorial)
2. SK 08144 94596 (fuselage section)
3. SK 08140 94683 (under-carriage)

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Lancaster KB993,  408 Squadron RCAF, crashed on the 18th May 1945 at James's Thorn. Map reference 0077949

1. SK 07715 94837

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Superfortress RB-29A  91st Reconnaissance Wing, 311th Air Division, Strategic Air Command, crashed on the 3rd of November 1948 at Higher Shelf Stones. Map reference  090950

1. SK 09011 94888

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I have now assembled all the co-ordinates for the crash sites (50 +) in the Dark Peak and stored them in a file that can be used with Google Earth and can be downloaded here.

Please note the Google Earth (GE) files above are for information only and cannot be used for navigation as the map datum in GE is different to that which I use with the GPS and the accuracy will be uncertain.

Google Earth is a free program which gives you a 3D view of the earth, high resolution detail does not cover the whole globe, but in some places it is down to 6" pixel detail, which is enough to see motorcycles and sometimes individual people (look at a golf course),click on the link above. If you have Google Earth on you PC, then you can see the wreck site by downloading the KMZ file from here and this will take straight to the Stirling bomber.

You can download Google Earth free from here:-

 

    PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANY WRECKAGE. 

I would like to think that future generations will find it as exciting as you on locating these wrecks.

I will put more GPS Co-ords for other aircraft wrecks as I re-visit some more sites.

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I would like to point out that I am not a professionally qualified mountaineer and cannot be held responsible for anyone who ventures out onto the mountains and remote areas of the UK based on the information contained within this web-site.

Not wanting to end my life at an early age I have always taken safety very seriously and I enjoy the technical side of climbing and walking. A few people under- estimate the severity of the terrain on which they are about travel and rapidly become overwhelmed with the situation they find themselves in. Accidents can, and do happen to anyone, even the most experienced, one hopes that the experienced mountaineer will know what to do if this arises, would you?

 Only the fool hardy would venture out on the hills without the correct clothing & equipment and the ability to use them.

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