Wellington Z8808
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Wellington Z8808
One of two Wellington bombers of the same flight to crash within 6 miles of each other in the Yorkshire Dales on the night of September 3rd 1942. They were of 11 Operational Training Unit of RAF Bassingbourn, flying from RAF Steeple Morden, a grass satellite airfield in Cambridgshire.
The Wellingtons were taking part in a cross country navigation exercise, but foul weather meant that several crews became disoriented or unaware of how high the hills below them were.
Fortunately all crewmen survived when Z8808 struck the moor. The crew of Wellington DV718 had less luck, and only one of the five on board survived that crash.
CREW (all survived);
Flight Lieutenant P R Coney RNZAF
Sgt J Wilding RNZAF
Sgt M B Grainger RNZAF
Sgt J H F Kemp
Flight Sergeant J E Burrel
Sgt G W Wilford
Sgt W G Reader
Looks like an airfix model tipped out of it’s box and waiting to be glued together.Good to see you’re back out amongst the bogs Ian.
Another great capture and narrative Ian! %-)
How sad that both planes didn’t have all survive!
Looks very eerie in the middle of all that moorland.
a sad site for these brave lads
could never get enough of these,ian…pleases me to see the peices of the histories involved are still present,too…the thought of idiots or the selfish removing them from thier resting place infuriates…
Lots of remains there, then. Looks like it is on quite a plateau.
By jove, there’s a lot there Ian
A relatively large amount there Ian – amazing that anyone survived!
Great background with the landscape and clouds and detail of course as usual
Great work Ian , I need to visit the other one ….there looks to be a lot at that site
oddly, this one reminded me of a pile of animal bones and I really liked it which always makes me feel kind of odd — loving a shot of a wreck where folk died.
An amazing narration of a sad time again Ian!! It was good to know that some of the crew men survived but equally sad for the other less fortunate men. A brilliantly clear photo and a poignant reminder for all to see!!
great photos ian and the stories to go with it
two brilliant shot ian love the info as norm……..
A great shot that really captures the isolation of the location!
Great shot and as usual interesting background story – there`s a heck of a lot of wreckage left too
magnesium aluminium junk jumble
geodetic death musn’t grumble
human crew hip hurray
they lived to fight another day
My father was Sgt JHF Kemp. Wow.