B29 Superfortress Crash Site

It was my turn to drive today so we set off at 05:00 and went straight up the same route as last week and ended up parking in the same spot on the Snake Pass, we were determined to get to the Superfortress crash site. It was pitch black when we parked up and the planet Venus was shinning in the pre dawn sky. We started on the track which is reasonably easy at the early stages and thankfully the light increased when we got to the rougher parts of the track so we could see where we were going. The sunrise briefly lit up some clouds but there was no where i could get a decent shot. We left the Pennine Way and started cross country towards the crash site, the ground was rough and very boggy in some places. We eventually spotted the crash site and the trig point just a few meters further on. The wreckage is strewn over a wide area and surprisingly it has weathered well. It is quite moving being among the wreckage with a memorial plaque mounted on a stone pillar at the head of it. We did some photo's then headed up to the trig point and had our breakfast there. There were a  couple of lads camping out overnight and what a view they had to wake up to. We returned to the car on the same route getting some nice shots on the way back with the sun poking through.

Route from the Snake Pass to the crash site & trig point

Parked on the top of Snake Pass

Snake Pass with the planet Venus in the dawn sky

Ike

Rob

Lovely red clouds

Ike & Rob

Geoff

Cairn on the Pennine Way

Going off the Pennine Way and heading for the crash site

Geoff looming out of the sun

Geoff

First glimpse of the wreckage

This plane crashed in 1948 and unfortunately all on board were killed. The wreckage is spread over a wide area and has weathered well after all these years. On November 3rd 1948, during a flight from Scampton in Lincolnshire to the Burtonwood United States Air Force base near Warrington in Lancashire, the Superfortress "Over Exposed" crashed on to the high ground at Higher Shelf Stones. The pilot of the aircraft, Captain Landon P. Tanner had been given a briefing before the 20 minute flight that there would be broken cloud between 2,000 and 4,000 feet with a visibility of 4 - 6 miles.
For this flight the crew was;
Pilot: Captain Landon P. Tanner
Co-Pilot: Captain Harry Stroud
Engineer: Technical Sergeant Ralph Fields
Navigator: Sergeant Charles Wilbanks
Radio Operator: Sergeant Gene A Gartner,
Radar Operator: David T. Moore
Camera Crew: Technical Sergeant Saul R. Banks; Sergeant Donald R. Abrogast; Sergeant Robert I. Doyle; Private First Class William M. Burrows
Additional Crew: Corporal M. Franssen; Corporal George Ingram
Photographic Advisor: Captain Howard Keel of the 4201st Motion Picture Unit. Captain Landon P. Tanner
Captain Landon P. Tanner
The flight was carrying the payroll for the American airbase at Burtonwood and sacks of mail to be sent back to the United States. It is believed that the pilot must have descended out of the overcast sky to establish his current position and impacted with the ground just below Higher Shelf Stones, about 2000 feet above sea level. When the aircraft failed to arrive at the airbase an air search was called and the burning wreckage was seen.

At the time the members of RAF Harpur Hill Mountain Rescue team were completing an exercise some two and a half miles away and picked up the messages of the search aircraft. Realising that they were in the area, in two parties, they moved towards the crash site through conditions of mist and drizzle until they could see the remains of the aircraft with its high tailfin above the fires. The first arrivals from the RAF team, Flight Sergeant George Thompson and Corporal William Duthie realised there were no survivors of the crash and as night fell firemen and other men from the RAF arrived and made a further search. Very early the following day a much larger party made their way to Higher Shelf Stones and the 200 yard long debris trail was searched until all the bodies of the crew were found, as was the £7000 pay satchel.

The crew of ‘Over Exposed’ had completed their tour of duty and in three days would have returned to their homes in the United States. Captain Landon P. Tanner, the 33 year old pilot of ‘Over Exposed’ left a wife and two daughters, Jean and Jane. He had enlisted in the US forces in 1936.

The Boeing B 29 Superfortresses used for photographic reconnaissance duties were fitted with extra fuel tanks and cameras were installed to photograph a strip of ground 3 miles wide. After this conversion the aircraft was designated as an F-13 and first entered service in November 1944. 117 were built. 44-61999 "Over Exposed" was built at Renton Washington and, fitted with cameras in five gun turrets was in service just before the Second World War ended.

Trig point on Higher Shelf Stones. 621 Meters above sea level

Overnight campers

Breakfast Time

Rob

Looking back to the hill we have just come down from

We've been to this crash site 9 years ago and at that time we didn't have my GPS and we wondered how we found it, i had the exact coordinated logged in and we knew where we were going this time and found it no bother. A bit like Hansel & Gretel if they had a GPS they would never have got lost in the woods. There is no waymarked path to the site from the Pennine Way.This walk was about 4 1/2 miles a lot of it straight forward although you cannot see when walking in the gullies. Once off the Penning Way the ground can be very rough, wet and boggy with lots of ups and downs across the gullies.

See you next week