After a friend mentioned that since before WWII there have been over 50 plane crashes in the Dark Peak with the wreckage left at the sites, it was natural for me to be inquisitive since this was new information to me!
After doing some serious google'ing and plotting the grid references on an OS map, we planned Walk Number One which we hoped (grid references correct) would lead us to find 3 crash sites. We drove out to Edale before heading up the valley and turning right off the beaten path just before the scree slope/footpath. This what-felt-like-near-vertical climb took us to site one.
Above is the crash site of the Wellington W5719 of 150 Squadron RAF which crashed at Far Upper Tor on 31/07/41. On the internet are pictures of this site, which make this pile of metal look bigger than it was, so it was pure luck that we stumbled across this one, incidently, where I had marked on the map.
Next up was a brief path section in the very gusty strong winds which saw us blown over a few times, before walking past the water up and out into the Peat Moors of Kinder. Given that someone (ahem, not me) had forgotten the thumb compass, this was hardcore navigation! Picking a route around the gullies and ridges of the peat moor to avoid wet feet, whilst trying to maintain some sort of bearing wasn't too difficult. Navigating the area was easy, finding the crash site was harder. Firstly we headed to far south before being too high and wandering to far north. After a quick discussion, we decided to head on to our planned third site, before seeing if we could pick site 2 up on the way back. Finding site three was easy! Down into the valley and up the gully to the rocky knoll, where a quick hunt and following some old footsteps in the mud lead 'Marcell' to find site number 3, slightly to the south of the grid reference and in the same rocky flat gully as the rocky knoll.
Site number 3 is an Avro Anson N185 of Halton HQ Flight RAF which crashed on Edale Moor/Kinder on 23/11/45.
After following our own footsteps back the way we had come, it was easier to see how high we had been. I decided to play 'Ray Mears' and followed the old faint footprints which lead pretty much straight from site 3. Marcell was wandering somewhere to the East of me and occasionally caught a glimpse of him when out of the gully. As it turned out, the footprints lead me straight to the top end of site 2, and initially I thought the scattering of splintered wood was it. Fortunately, after shouting to Marcell, and wandering down the gully from the flatter section of marsh, I stumbled across the first engine, stark white against the peat, but no way to see it without either being in the gully or standing immediately on top. Further down is the other engine.
Site number 2 with the first engine in the foreground and just a bit further down the gully is the second. This was a De Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ALBC which crashed on 30/11/63. It is a strange feeling coming across these wreckages in the middle of nowhere and to see it surrounded by mud and
water.
So from here it was back to the footpath, scrambling down the rocky scree/waterfall/stream/footpath thing, and heading back to Edale.
We were very lucky to find these sites, and with the weather, which, although was rather windy, the sun was partly out and it didn't rain! Looking forward to finding the next lot up the top of Snake Pass :-)
