Hurricane PG472 near Bolton, Lancs.
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Hurricane PG472 near Bolton
Grid reference SD 68832 14134
The weather wasn’t looking too promising this morning, so a spur of the moment attempt at finding a local crash site. The debris – aluminium panels with red and green paint, armour plating and rusted components, lies in a small impact crater.
February 2nd, 1945. Two 21 year old Hurricane pilots with orders to undertake flying exercises within the vicinity of their base at RAF Calverley in Cheshire, immediately flew North in formation. 20 minutes later, Flight Sergeant Thomas Stanley Taylor and Warrant Officer Norman Thomas Huckle crashed into each other at about 6,000 feet in cloud and dived to the ground north of Bolton in Lancashire. Both men were killed. Warrant Officer Huckle’s Hurricane came down close by, at Horrocks Fold Farm.
A factory worker later responded to a newspaper appeal for information, and said that a colleague of hers had been engaged to one of the pilots, and they were going to give the factory girls an unauthorised air display, but alas the aircraft never arrived.
Relatives of Flight Sergeant Taylor please see comment and photo here by Norman Hodgson
a Hawker Hurricane photographed at Duxford
Quite a lot left for a part wooden plane and a single seat fighter at that .
Was there more scattered about or was this a pool of all that remains on site?
Thought about it this morning ,but decided to wash the car instead ….wish I,d gone out hunting now , doesnt look as if it was too bad .
wasn’t great for photos Paul, hung about at the site for an hour but the cloud didn’t shift.
There’s more here than this photo suggests, but it’s all in one pool. At least the stuff I found was, the guide says there may be some below, but a quick scout around revealed nothing else. Little known about crash site, by the look of it.
The weather actually seems to work quite well here, given the mournful air it lends the shot.
Sad 🙁 these tones are actually quite lovely under the cloud cover… Very fitting for the capture.
what a strangely beautiful shot.. the colours of the plane bits against that wonderful swaying grass.. the line of the hill.. really lovely.
Another sad story Ian – if this is the impact site, there is no residue from the fire/fuel as in so many of the others.
Wow, This is a good story and photo. Thank you for posting it.
Cheers Ian, another piece of aviation history that won’t be forgotten.