Crash | |
---|---|
Date | 3 November 1948 |
Summary | Descent too early in low cloud |
Site | Higher Shelf Stones near Glossop 53°27′02″N1°51′54″W / 53.4505°N 1.8651°W |
Total fatalities | 13 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing RB-29A Superfortress |
Aircraft name | Over Exposed |
Operator | United States Air Force |
Registration | 44-61999 |
Flight origin | Scampton near Lincoln |
Destination | Burtonwood near Warrington |
Passengers | 2 |
Crew | 11 |
Fatalities | 13 |
Survivors | 0 |
The Bleaklow Bomber was a US Air Force (USAF) Boeing RB-29A Superfortress that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones on Bleaklow in the Peak District in 1948. It was modified as a reconnaissance aircraft, rather than a bomber.
Boeing 'RB-29A 44-61999 was part of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 91st Reconnaissance Group, 311th Air Division in the Strategic Air Command of USAF. The aircraft bore the name Over Exposed after it was flown in July 1946 by the 509th Composite Group during Operation Crossroads to photograph nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, including the dropping of an atomic bomb by B-29 Superfortress Dave's Dream. The aircraft had also taken part in the Berlin airlift during 1948. [1] [2]
The aircraft crashed at Higher Shelf Stones on the Bleaklow moorland plateau near Glossop in Derbyshire on 3 November 1948. The aircraft was on a routine daytime flight with two other aircraft, leaving RAF Scampton near Lincoln at about 10:15 and heading to the US Air Force base at Burtonwood near Warrington. The pilot Captain Landon Tanner and co-pilot Captain Harry Stroud were flying by instruments as the area was covered in low cloud. Based on the flight time, the crew believed it had passed the hills and began to descend. At about 11:00 the aircraft hit the ground at 610m above sea level, 300m north east of the summit of Higher Shelf Stones and it was engulfed in flames. [2] [3] [4] All 11 crew and 2 military passengers perished in the crash. When the aircraft failed to arrive at the Burtonwood airbase, the nearby RAF Mountain Rescue Service was called to search for the missing aircraft. Already on a training exercise upon the Kinder Scout moors, the RAF Harpur Hill rescue team headed to Bleaklow and located the crash site at about 16:30, by which time the light was fading. The debris of the aircraft was scattered with only the tail section intact. The recovery of the occupants took place the following morning and their bodies were taken to Burtonwood. The aircraft was carrying the $7,400 wages for the Burtonwood airbase. The money survived the fire and was recovered at the crash site by the American Military Police. [3] [5]
In 1988, a memorial was erected at the site by servicemen from RAF Finningley, with a plaque in memory of those who died in the crash.
Much of the wreckage is still exposed, including the Duplex-Cyclone engines, wing sections, fuselage sections, undercarriage and gun turrets. One of the gun turrets is on display at the air museum in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. In the 1970s a local man found a ring at the crash site, which was identified as Captain Tanner's wedding ring and was returned to his daughter. [1] [3]
The area around the crash site is challenging to navigate. The most obvious route is from the trig pillar at the summit of Higher Shelf Stones. It is about a 2-mile (3.2 km) walk to the crash site from the lay-by at the summit of Snake Pass, starting along the Pennine Way footpath through Devil's Dyke. [4] [6] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom in 2020, local Mountain Rescue teams issued warnings that inexperienced hikers should exercise caution before attempting a winter visit. [7]
Several other military aircraft have crashed on the Bleaklow moors. [8] [9]
Date | Aircraft | Crew | Location | Incident |
---|---|---|---|---|
30 January 1939 | Bristol Blenheim Mk.I L1476 | Pilot Stanley John Daly Robinson (Killed) Passenger Jack Elliott Thomas (Killed) | Sykes Moor, Bleaklow | During a training flight from RAF Church Fenton near Tadcaster, the plane nose-dived into the ground killing both of the crew. The wreck was discovered two weeks later by a local walker. A memorial was erected at the crash site in 1991. |
29 August 1941 | Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I N3378 | Pilot James Craig (Killed) Passenger George Daniel Hempstead (Killed) | Bleaklow Stones, Bleaklow | Crashed at cruising speed in low cloud over the Pennines while returning to RAF Hibaldstow in Lincolnshire from RAF Turnhouse at Edinburgh. The aircraft had flown inland from its planned route along the east coast in order to avoid thunderstorms. A search by ten aircraft failed to locate the crashed plane. On 23 September 1941 the crash site was discovered by two shepherds. |
10 December 1941 | Blackburn Botha Mk.I W5103 No.7 Ferry Pilots Pool RAF | Pilot Thomas William Rogers (Killed) | Round Hill, Bleaklow | The aircraft was destroyed on impact while flying from Blackburn Aircraft’s factory at Sherburn-in-Elmet near Leeds to Harwarden near Chester. The pilot had descended through low cloud before he had cleared the hills. |
30 January 1943 | Vickers Wellington Mk.IC R1011 No.28 Operational Training Unit RAF | Pilot Anthony Winter Lane (Killed) Bomb Aimer Charles Douglas Brown (Killed) Navigator Charles Leslie Grisdale (Injured) Air Gunner Raymond Gerard Rouse (Killed) Wireless Operator Miller (Injured) | Birchen Bank Moss, Bleaklow | The aircraft crashed onto the moor while flying at night in low cloud and wintry weather. Two of seven planes from the Operational Training Unit at RAF Wymeswold and RAF Castle Donington were lost during a Bullseye exercise (simulated night bombing). Wellington R1538 also crashed, near Stoke-on-Trent. |
18 May 1945 | Avro Lancaster Mk.X KB993 | Pilot Anthony Arthur Clifford (Killed) Flight Engineer Kenneth McIvor (Killed) Bomb Aimer David Fehrman (Killed) Wireless Operator Michael Cecil Cameron (Killed) Air Gunner Clarence Halvorson (Killed) Air Gunner Leslie Claude Hellekson (Killed) | James Thorn, Bleaklow | The aircraft was flying from RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York and struck the hillside after dark. The crew had become disorientated without a qualified navigator on board, because the crew should only have been carrying out circuits around the airfield but had decided to fly cross-country. |
24 July 1945 | Douglas C-47A Dakota 42-108982 | Pilot George L. Johnson (Killed) Co-pilot Earl W. Burns (Killed) Navigator Beverly W. Izlar (Killed) Crew Chief Theodore R. McCrocklin (Killed) Radio Operator Francis M. Maloney (Killed) Passenger Grover R. Alexander (Killed) Leading Aircraftman John Dunlop Main, RAF (Killed) | Shelf Moor, Bleaklow | The aircraft crashed on Shelf Moor in low cloud on a transport flight from RAF Leicester East to RAF Renfrew. It had started its journey from Poix, near Amiens in France. The wreckage was discovered two days later by an off-duty RAF man walking on Bleaklow. |
5 December 1956 | De Havilland Canada L-20A Beaver 52-6145 | Pilot John Rossman Tinklepaugh (Killed) Passenger Guy Waller (Killed) | Bramah Edge, Bleaklow | The aircraft crashed onto the moor during a flight from RAF Sculthorpe near Fakenham in Norfolk. The aircraft was wrongly identified by an air traffic controller at RAF Burtonwood who mistakenly directed the plane into the hillside. Lieutenant Waller was also a pilot and was being taken to Burtonwood to collect a Republic F-84 Thunderjet and fly it back to Sculthorpe. |
The Boeing RC-135 is a family of large reconnaissance aircraft built by Boeing and modified by a number of companies, including General Dynamics, Lockheed, LTV, E-Systems, and L3 Technologies, and used by the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat.
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. The primary mission of the B-47 was as a nuclear bomber capable of striking targets within the Soviet Union.
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber built by Boeing for the United States Air Force, and was further refined into Boeing's final such design, the prototype B-54. Although not as well known as its direct predecessor, the B-50 was in USAF service for nearly 20 years.
Bleaklow is a high, largely peat-covered, gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. It is north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass (A57), and south of the A628 Woodhead Pass. Much of it is nearly 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level and the shallow bowl of Swains Greave on its eastern side is the source of the River Derwent.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a WWII era long range, strategic heavy bomber that was produced in many experimental and production models.
Kam Air Flight 904 was a scheduled passenger domestic flight from Herat Airfield in Herat to Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul. On 3 February 2005 the aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain killing all 97 passengers and 8 crew on board.
The Kee Bird was a United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress, serial 45-21768, of the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron, that became marooned after making an emergency landing in northwest Greenland during a secret Cold War spying mission on 21 February 1947. While the entire crew was safely evacuated after spending three days in the isolated Arctic tundra, the aircraft itself was left at the landing site. It lay there undisturbed until 1994, when a privately funded mission was launched to repair and return it. During the attempted recovery, a fire broke out, resulting in the destruction and loss of the airframe on the ground.
On 3 April 1996, a United States Air Force Boeing CT-43A crashed on approach to Dubrovnik, Croatia, while on an official trade mission. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 originally built as T-43A navigational trainer and later converted into a CT-43A executive transport aircraft, was carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 other people, including corporate CEOs. While attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport, the airplane crashed into a mountainside. An Air Force technical sergeant, who was the stewardess, and the only passenger who survived the initial impact, Shelly Kelly, died en route to a hospital.
Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn is a mountain on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll, Scotland, northwest of Lochgoilhead.
RAF Harpur Hill is a former Royal Air Force station, situated at Harpur Hill near Buxton, Derbyshire in England. The site was operational from 1938 to 1960 and was mainly used as an underground munitions storage facility. It became the largest ammunitions dump in the country across the 500 acres (200 ha) site.
Mill Hill is an open, flat-topped hill, 1,785 feet above sea level, in the Peak District in the county of Derbyshire in England.
The Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation (PDMRO) is a UK registered charity which was formed in 1964. The purpose of PDMRO is "to save life and alleviate distress, primarily in Upland and Mountain areas". This is achieved by conducting search and rescue missions for walkers, climbers and missing persons in and around the Peak District National Park.
The Buxton Mountain Rescue Team is a UK registered charity operating search and rescue missions from its base at Dove Holes near Buxton in Derbyshire. The team covers an area of about 400 square miles across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.