Liberator 42-52003

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USAAF B24J Liberator 42-52003, Mill Hill, Kinder Scout, Peak District.

Second visit to one of the first bits of wreckage I pointed a camera at.

11 October 1944.
American B24 Liberator 42-52003 crashed on Mill Hill, Derbyshire, England, after a shaky take off.
Sgt Najvar & 2 Lt Creighton Haopt USAAF both survived the crash.

This was a brand new B24 on its delivery flight. Took 3 attempts to get off the ground and was damaged in the process. Flying through cloud, Sgt Najvar had apparently noticed the aircraft was close to the ground and advised the pilot to climb. The latter nodded as if he understood, but did not alter position and the aircraft flew into the hillside.

There is a lot of wreckage remaining, scattered about in numerous groughs and gullies.

19 comments on “Liberator 42-52003
  1. gastephen says:

    Superb.

  2. Tech Owl says:

    Nice use of the light Ian – interesting that it was on its delivery flight and yet had problems on take off

  3. Ian D B says:

    I know. Can you imagine being on Easy Jet and the pilot saying, "Sorry about that Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a brand new Airbus, just hold tight and we’ll be fine.Third time lucky!"

  4. mickb6265 says:

    love this again,ian..can never get enough of this stuff,mate..

  5. pasujoba says:

    Great angle on the engines Ian , better second time around I think .
    Did you move them to that position or was it .

  6. andyholmfirth says:

    That’s a big lump of metal !

  7. Pleasureprinciple2012 says:

    Yeh, looks as if they have been moved since the last time you visited. Nice positioning for them both.

  8. xjboy550 says:

    Nice !

  9. ​favourite waste of time​ says:

    love the rust pointing hopefully at the sky

  10. **Hazel** says:

    I am stunned by this one Ian, it is incredible and I am adding to my favs!

  11. mick cooke says:

    great photo Ian , you have a knack at taking these photos always a pleasure to view them
    brilliant detail

  12. het broertje van.. says:

    Lovely picture man!!!

  13. C J Paul (chris) says:

    ian lovely shot and the info you give it always make me stop and think…………….class

  14. Neal. says:

    all the man hours that went into making it only to crash, at least no-one was killed.

  15. SolarScot. says:

    might seem a silly question Ian but do people ever take bits of the wreckage away from the site?

  16. Gary Shield says:

    An even better shot than the 1st

  17. cgullz says:

    bold and beautiful that top shot, great light. funny how we can take a good bunch of shots of something, and yet it is the first or close to it, shot that prevails as the best.

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