Bongo Fury

When we were on our 2009 Highlands & Islands tour (details HERE for anyone who missed it) we saw the wreckage of a Consolidated Catalina on the Isle of Vatersay which crashed in 1944.



Although the engines and large pieces were recovered, lots of wreckage still remains today and that got us thinking about other wreckages still visible, maybe nearer to home.

We had read about a Boeing B-29 Superfortress (one of those big American things that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan) crashing in the Derbyshire peak district and that large chunks of that wreckage were still there. So without further ado we parked up on the side of the A57 Snake Pass where the Pennine Way crosses, and headed up into the wilderness in search of the beast....


Well camouflaged grouse....


....apart from this one that had something red stuck to its head


Glossop, Manchester and the Cheshire plain


Steady progress from the Jrs


Nearly there....


“Here lies the wreckage of B-29 Superfortress “Overexposed” of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron USAF which tragically crashed whilst descending through cloud on 3rd November 1948 killing all 13 crewmembers. The aircraft was on a routine flight from RAF Scampton to American AFB Burtonwood. It is doubtful the crew ever saw the ground. Memorial laid by 367 Air Navigation Course of RAF Finningley on 12 November 1988.”


Landing gear


All four engines are still there


18-cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone air-cooled radial engine










From Higher Shelf Stones















Back along the Pennine Way to our trusty Bongo

Amazing Muz

Brilliant bit of history. Thanks

Fascinating, that deffo looks worth a visit

Thanks for sharing the pics

Wow... something quite haunting about the wreckage of any aircraft in remote places. I remember looking at the wreckage of a WW2 aircraft on St Kilda....... bit of bad luck that they hit the only rock for miles around in that case.

You got a good day there Muz. Last time I went up there I was wading through the peat and getting filthy.
Lot of aircraft wrecks up there.
That one is about the easiest to get to and more wreckage keeps appearing as the peat gets moved around.

Google Earth has the location of a lot of them and there is book called Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks giving the locations.

Hi Brian,

We checked the forecast and it looked to be ok, certainly in the morning anyway so it was all good. The route we chose was possibly a lot longer than it could have been but fairly easy without too many ditches to cross. We went around the Pennine Way quite a bit to the north of the crash site, on the way back we went further south but there were some major ravines to tackle and one of our party has short legs

Oh yeah, looking at the pics, guess who was humping all the clobber up there

A good walk though, and an eerie site once you're there. They only just missed making it too, another couple of hundred feet and they would have been ok.

Davie - crashing into St Kilda is indeed bad luck

Very interesting thanks Muz

Reminds me of when I was a kid. Our house just outside Liverpool was right under the flight path of AFB Burtonwood and those big American planes seemed to be flying over us every 10 mins. There was still an American prescence at Burtonwood when I was working for Warrington New Town some years back but it was then only a supply depo using helicopters etc. The M62 motorway now goes right through the middle of the original Burtonwood airfield.

Tony

Ah yes Tony, Burtonwood air base.

Many many years ago I played in a band and our favourite gig (along with Wigan rugby club) was the officers mess at Burtonwood.

Drinks very cheap and all in dollars and the barmen didn't understand English money so you usually ended up getting more back in change than you paid.

Other BIG advantage was that fags were dirt cheap. We used to use the gig money to buy fags and stash them in the speaker cabinets and then go round our local pubs flogging them. Made far more money that way than we ever did gigging.

Amazing! Thank you for sharing that with us. It's wonderful that in this age of "Broken Britain" that the thoughtless and selfish of this country have left the "grave" alone.

How many hours a week do you put into planning your tours, Muz? And how many hours a week menu planning?

Alison01326 wrote:How many hours a week do you put into planning your tours, Muz? And how many hours a week menu planning?

Longer than I should

Best plan is to have a list (a long one) of possible places in mind, then if you get posted somewhere odd you might be able to make it worthwhile going