B29 Crashsite Derbyshire/ High Peak

[KevinB]

Derbyshire high Peak b-29 crash site

there are a few pages here


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


well worth a visit

 

[vikingBerserker]

Wow, it amazes me the number of wrecks still around from that era.

 

[Airframes]

VB, there are over thirty crash sites in the same area as the B29 described above, all in a very small area of hills known as the Peak District (and nothing to do with the peaks of the hills!) I visited most of them years ago, as I live on the 'doorstep', and they ranged (at that time) from small fragments to very large secctions of aircraft. A B24, I think from Rackheath IIRC, went in on Burnt Moor, after the crew bailed out when reaching the English coast after a raid, and this had large sections of wing, landing gear, engines etc still on the surface, although I think most of it has either sunk or been recovered since I was there.A rather sad site is the remains of two RAF Sabres, which collided, killing one pilot, in the early 1950's. The paintwork still looked fresh, and the engine gleamed when I visited the site of one of them.
I think another edition of 'Dark Peak Wrecks' has recently been published, describing these sites and the events in some detail.

 

[ccheese]

It is surprising how much debris is left from aircraft that crashed so long ago. It any of those sites were in the U.S. they
would be picked clean in a week after the crash ! It's good to see flowers, crosses and plaques placed on the sites
where airmen died. It's a good feeling to know that someone cares.

Charles

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Good post VB. Thank you for sharing.

 

[diddyriddick]

Very cool site! Thanks for the heads-up, Kevin!