Wing section of crashed Halifax bomber LL505, Cumbria.
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Wreckage of Halifax Bomber LL505 FD-S which crashed October 22 1944 on Great Carrs in the Lake District, England, killing all 8 crew on board (7 Canadians, 1 Brit).
The Halifax was on a night navigation exercise from Topcliffe in Yorkshire when they ran into thick cloud. The pilot descended so that the navigator could get a visual fix on the ground but the bomber crashed on the ridge between Great Carrs and Swirl How.
16 years after the crash, A Wainwright in his guide to the Southern Fells, wrote;
"The aeroplane, travelling from west to east, failed to clear the ridge by a few feet only; at the place of impact the undercarriage was ripped off (and still lies there in a rough grave of stones) but the crippled machine went on over the edge to crash far down the precipice…"
Crew;
F/O J A Johnston RCAF
F/O F A Bell RCAF
P/O R N Whitley RCAF
Sgt H E Pyche RCAF
Sgt C G Whittingstall RCAF
Sgt D F Titt RCAF
Sgt G Riddoch RCAF
Sgt W B Ferguson RAF
This page has lots more;
www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/ll505.html
see also;
I am amazed there is so much snow right now – great details as usual and it looks a tough climb
You have managed this one very well , the colours are spot on and there is no burn out .
What a place to come down.
Thanks for posting the follow-up link. It turns out the pilot, F/O Johnston was from Carp Ontario – a village which is now part of Ottawa, Ontario. I spent my whole day flying aerobatics right above the Carp Airport today- oddly enough.
As sad as the story is, it’s nice to see the memorials are well taken care of and visited often.
Thanks for posting!
-J
Cheers all. It was a bleak spot, in the shade all afternoon.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/27351996@N06/]
Thanks Jonathan. One of the things that gets me when visiting wreck sites is how far from home some of these blokes were.
That is a superb capture Ian, the exposure looks spot on… It does look very bleak up there, I can imagine what its like in the shade….Brrrrr..