RB-29 'over-exposed' crash site.

[mybrainhurts]

dr_gn said:

Remember this?

http://drdavidclarke.co.uk/secret-files/howden-moo...

I was out at Ladybower taking photos of the comet that evening. Definitely a lot of flying activity, but I don't remember any UFO's! Then again, as usual I missed the main event - set off for home about 1/2 before it al kicked off IIRC.

Always makes me chuckle reading that lot...brilliant conspiracy about absolutely nothing.

Yes, I remember that. I'm still taking supplies up there for the aliens every week, but they made me promise not to say where...

[150bhp]

This blows my mind that there's crash sites you can just walk up to and wander about! Is there any in Scotland I could visit?

[dr_gn]

150bhp said:

This blows my mind that there's crash sites you can just walk up to and wander about! Is there any in Scotland I could visit?

http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/scotland.htm

[150bhp]

dr_gn said:

http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/scot...

Amazing, thanks for that. Had a quick glance through and it's quite sobering.

[dr_gn]

150bhp said:

dr_gn said:

http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/scot...

Amazing, thanks for that. Had a quick glance through and it's quite sobering.

Yup. There was one I stumbed across when out walking - I think it was a DeHavilland engine - and the crankshaft was bent through 90 degrees. Then there's, IIRC a Sabre's jet engine, that looks like it's about 1/3 the un-crashed length.

[crofty1984]

TheTurbonator said:

I can understand that they've become a memorial now but that's 60 years later. Just wondering what the thinking was back in 1948 and why they decided to just leave it.

ETA: Posted before I read the above post. I suppose accessibility would have played a big part in the decision.

Edited by TheTurbonator on Saturday 28th December 23:15

Perhaps the government at the time had so much on trying to rebuild the country after the war it wasn't really a high priority?

[matt12023]

There are two books, Dark Peak aircraft wrecks 1 & 2. They list the site and give some information about the crashes. I used to go and try them with a friend and his father. They make for an interesting walk and some sites the the old map reading skills a working

[aeropilot]

mybrainhurts said:

dr_gn said:

Dr Jekyll said:

dr_gn said:

There's a Hawker Hunter too, crashed in '92 or '93 IIRC. Unfortunately it's 30ft underground...and the pilot's still with it.

Was that a privately owned one?

Yes:

http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/peak...

Went for a walk today near the crash site (never been to it). It's a strange thought that someone's still down there.

You sure about that? They recovered the ejector seat.

They recovered both ejector seats from G-BTYL (formerly XL595) as well some cockpit instrumentation and other parts, so I'd be very surprised if they left the remains of Wallace Cubitt in the big hole that he created when he speared into the ground at high speed back in 1993.

[Simpo Two]

aeropilot said:

They recovered both ejector seats from G-BTYL (formerly XL595) as well some cockpit instrumentation and other parts, so I'd be very surprised if they left the remains of Wallace Cubitt in the big hole that he created when he speared into the ground at high speed back in 1993.

A quick Google gives http://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/mr-wa...

'The Hunter had nose dived out of the sky and hit the ground with such force that recovery attempts proved impossible, and Mr Cubitt and his aircraft remain buried beneath the moor.'

I doubt there was much left to recover, except in a jam jar.

[dr_gn]

matt12023 said:

There are two books, Dark Peak aircraft wrecks 1 & 2. They list the site and give some information about the crashes. I used to go and try them with a friend and his father. They make for an interesting walk and some sites the the old map reading skills a working

Many of the grid references given in those Ron Collier books are wrong. The Vampire near Strines Pub and the Meteor on Hagg side for example are way off, to the extent you'd never find the actual sites. The best books to date IMO are "Peakland Air Crashes" by Pat Cunningham. There are 3 volumes: North, South and Central Area. They give GPS derived grid referenes for the crash sites.

[aeropilot]

Simpo Two said:

aeropilot said:

They recovered both ejector seats from G-BTYL (formerly XL595) as well some cockpit instrumentation and other parts, so I'd be very surprised if they left the remains of Wallace Cubitt in the big hole that he created when he speared into the ground at high speed back in 1993.

A quick Google gives http://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/mr-wa...

'The Hunter had nose dived out of the sky and hit the ground with such force that recovery attempts proved impossible, and Mr Cubitt and his aircraft remain buried beneath the moor.'

I doubt there was much left to recover, except in a jam jar.

While this page http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/peak... indicates that both seats were recovered.....

I've just read the AAIB report and that states that only parts of both seats, incl both seat chutes and the unfired ejection seat cartridges were recovered, so, yes, what was left of Mr.Cubitt is indeed still in that crater.

[dr_gn]

aeropilot said:

mybrainhurts said:

dr_gn said:

Dr Jekyll said:

dr_gn said:

There's a Hawker Hunter too, crashed in '92 or '93 IIRC. Unfortunately it's 30ft underground...and the pilot's still with it.

Was that a privately owned one?

Yes:

http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/peak...

Went for a walk today near the crash site (never been to it). It's a strange thought that someone's still down there.

You sure about that? They recovered the ejector seat.

They recovered both ejector seats from G-BTYL (formerly XL595) as well some cockpit instrumentation and other parts, so I'd be very surprised if they left the remains of Wallace Cubitt in the big hole that he created when he speared into the ground at high speed back in 1993.

The AAIB report suggests that only parts of the seats were recovered:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/bulletins/octo...

According to the above mentioned book by Pat Cunningham (who is ex-RAF and commercial pilot - his books do seem very well researched):

"Attempts were made at salvage and recovery, but in the end Mr Cubitt's body was left interred with his machine. In part becasue of this, and in the abscence of any radio report regarding mechanical malfunction, determining the casue of the accident had to be somewhat speculative."

[Le TVR]

150bhp said:

This blows my mind that there's crash sites you can just walk up to and wander about! Is there any in Scotland I could visit?

Just walk up to would be pushing it, but if you are a competent climber there is a significant one near Fort William on Maol Odhar of a USAF F101. Inaccessiblility means there were lots of debris still there.

[Eric Mc]

Is that part of the afterburner cans? You can see what looks like heat discolouration on some of the bits.

[dr_gn]

Found some pices of the Sabre engine (2 crashed - collided in mid-air IIRC):







And of of the Meteors. Again, IIRC, 2 crashed md-air and the debris field is pretty colse to Sabres on the edge of Kinder Scout:



Not my images - credit to whoever took them

[Le TVR]

Eric Mc said:

Is that part of the afterburner cans? You can see what looks like heat discolouration on some of the bits.

Yes I think so too.
The debris is strewn over a fairly large area but quite a few pieces have been collected up and added to the various stone cairns around the summit. There were some quite large pieces down a very steep scree and I would safely bet that they are still there!

[dr_gn]

Le TVR said:

Eric Mc said:

Is that part of the afterburner cans? You can see what looks like heat discolouration on some of the bits.

Yes I think so too.
The debris is strewn over a fairly large area but quite a few pieces have been collected up and added to the various stone cairns around the summit. There were some quite large pieces down a very steep scree and I would safely bet that they are still there!

I don't think it is part of the afterburner - It looks to me like the bare metal section of the rear fuselage immediately behind the engines - it will still get very hot there. The corrugated stiffeners will be from the inside of that area, the smooth bits on the outside.

[Eric Mc]

Possibly

[dr_gn]

The crease on the smooth bit of the damaged bit made me think that.

Found a picture of that area on an undamaged one, and the small access panel looks similar to the one in the crash photo:

[Eric Mc]

I was in the general area.