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Earlier in this thread, Alicatt shared information about visits / expeditions he’d made to various aircraft crash sites. Back in 2011, I visited the crash site of Superfortress RB-29A (F-13A) 44-61999 “Over Exposed”, the remains of which are located on Bleaklow Moor in the High Peak.
At the risk of going slightly 'off topic', here is the story of “Over Exposed”.
Superfortress RB-29A (F-13A) 44-61999 44-61999 was built at Renton, Washington in 1945 and was handed over one month before the war ended. She was an early model B-29A modified for photo reconnaissance and carried the F-13A designation, with "F" for 'photo' (Americans .. never could spel their wurds proply ...
). After WWII the designation was changed to FB-29J, and then again in 1948 to RB-29A.
In June 1946, eight F-13s, including 61999, left the States for Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to take part in ‘Operation Crossroads’. The tail fins bore a 10 foot black square with the letter ‘F’ in yellow upon them (the bombing aircraft wore the letter ‘B’, whilst meteorological planes carried the letter ‘W’). A two foot band of yellow was painted just aft of the national insignia, with similar bands painted towards the wing tips.
‘Operation Crossroads’ involved setting off two nuclear bombs, one timed to explode several hundred feet above Bikini Atoll’s lagoon – ‘Able Day’ bomb scheduled for 1 July 1946 - and the other, ‘Baker day’ bomb, was to be exploded underwater.
The crew of 61999 at the time of Operation Crossroads:The role of 61999 was to photograph the bombing aircraft, B-29 ‘Dave’s Dream’, as the device left the bomb bay. The other F-13s were to circle the mushroom cloud taking pictures.
On ‘Able Day’ 61999 took off from Kwajalein accompanying ‘Dave’s Dream’. Over the target, Bikini Atoll lagoon, the bomb was released and plunged towards the target ship ‘Nevada’. It is believed that 61999, which was seven miles away when the explosion occurred, acquired the nickname “Over Exposed” as a result of this mission.
This photo, taken from ‘Over Exposed’, shows ‘Dave’s Dream’ at the point of dropping the atomic bomb during Test Able at Bikini Atoll on 1 July 1946. Note the forward bomb doors are open ready for the drop. With the completion of ‘Operation Crossroads’, the F-13s flew to Roswell Field for screening and decontamination, before being returned to their squadrons. In the case of ‘Over Exposed’, this meant the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, UK.
When the Russians closed the road link into the Allied Sector of Berlin in 1948, supplies were flown in by air. Some 90 Superfortresses were based in the UK at the time, many taking part in the airlift. Whilst the transports flew in supplies to the Allied Sector, 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, including ‘Over Exposed’, ‘mapped’ the Russian occupied territory by mingling in with the vast flow of air traffic heading to and from Berlin. Using six cameras in the rear pressurised compartment a strip of ground three miles wide could be photographed in detail. A photo navigator’s station in the nose of the aircraft occupied the bombardier’s position and was in direct communication with the camera station in the waist. The bomb bays were utilised by fitting extra fuel tanks.
The crew of ‘Over Exposed’ had completed their service in Britain and were due to return home to the States on 6 November 1948. On the morning of 3 November, they were scheduled to conduct a routine ‘mail run’ from RAF Scampton to the American Logistics Base at Burtonwood, near Warrington, a flight that would take less than half an hour. Due to the diminutive American presence at Burtonwood, all the mail and pay packets destined for the squadrons based there were delivered to RAF Scampton, which meant there had to be regular collection and resupply flights between these locations.
At around 10:15am, the pilot Captain Landon P. Tanner, filed his Visual Flight Record with Flight Control for this routine flight. Low cloud hung over much of England that day and as such the flight was to be conducted on instruments.
For such a mission only a minimum flight crew was required. However, a trip to Burtonwood provided the opportunity to acquire some ‘creature comforts’, with raised the number of crew members to 13. Captain Tanner’s crew that day consisted of: co-pilot, Captain Harry Stroud; engineer, Technical Sergeant Ralph Fields; navigator, Sergeant Charles Wilbanks; radio operator, Staff Sergeant Gene A. Gartner; radar operator, David D. Moore; camera crew, Technical Sergeant Saul R. Banks, Sergeant Donald R. Abrogast, Sergeant Robert I. Doyle and Private First Class William M. Burrows. Three other crew members were Corporals M. Franssen and George Ingram, and Captain Howard Keel of the 4201st Motion Picture Unit.
As well as the sacks of mail homeward bound for the States, “Over Exposed” was also carrying the payroll cash for the American staff at Burtonwood.
At about 10:45am, around 20 minutes into his flight, Captain Tanner must have nosed down through the overcast cloud to establish his position. Shelf Moor rises to just over 2,000 feet above sea level – it is doubtful that any of the crew saw the ground before they hit it.
When “Over Exposed” failed to arrive at Burtonwood an air search was initiated and during that early wintery afternoon blazing wreckage was spotted on the Moor.
By chance, members of Harpur Hill RAF Mountain Rescue Team were just finishing an exercise two and a half miles away. They picked up the messages being broadcast by the search and rescue aircraft on their radio, to the effect that a ‘Superfort’ was down on the moor and burning. Checking the map reference Flight Sergeant George Thompson and Corporal William Duthie noted how close they were and promptly despatched the rest of the men to approach and search from one direction whilst they themselves started across the moor from Doctor’s Gate.
Some of the members of the Harpur Hill RAF Mountain Rescue Team who were involved in the search:Mist and drizzle prevented them from spotting the aircraft at first, but after twenty minutes rough going over the raising moorland they could see the Superfort’s huge tailfin and a fire blazing away in front of it.
The two of them raced the last few hundred yards stumbling into holes and jumping water courses. However, as they got close they could see that the situation was hopeless. Several bodies lay scattered around the blazing twisted metal; it was obvious that there was nothing that they could do for the aircrew and so they hurried back to their vehicle on the Snake Road.
Night was closing in as the Glossop fire brigade arrived at the crash site where wreckage spread across the moor for a quarter of a mile. Reinforcements from Harpur Hill arrived and a search was made for survivors, but none were found – just eight bodies were located. They were left there as darkness fell and the rescuers made their way back to the nearby village of Glossop.
Next morning, before dawn, a group of around fifty men set off to the downed aircraft. Using torches and arc lamps they toiled back across the ravines and streams for two hours before the tailfin loomed out of the grey dawn gloom. They now knew that thirteen men had been aboard, but they had only been able to gather eight bodies. Lines were formed to scour the moor for the five missing crew members.
Ted Ward, a member of the RAF Mountain Rescue Team from Harpur Hill, recalled:
“The first piece of wreckage that I came across was the nose wheel, followed after some 200 yards by the tail unit.”Another body was located that had been thrown clear of the wreckage; then American officers discovered the remaining four crew members. Unfortunately they were burned beyond recognition.
Scrambling about amongst the wreckage one of the American officers located a “Wells Fargo” satchel which contained $7,000, part of the payroll.
“This is what we’re looking for!” he called to his colleagues and promptly left the crash site.
How to get the bodies off the moor was the next problem that they had to face. Because of the rough terrain it was suggested that rather than carry the bodies three miles across the moors to the Snake Pass Road, they should call in helicopters. However, helicopters were still in their infancy, were few in number and had limited lift capacity. The RAF Mountain Rescue Team volunteered to attempt the job themselves. Utilising newly developed ‘body bags’ that had been provided by the US personnel on site, the men of the Mountain Rescue Team set off down the moorland, six to each bag, with others taking turns to carry the grim loads.
The bodies were taken to Burtonwood Logistics Base before being repatriated to the States. After the crash investigation teams had finished their work, they had the tail fin destroyed; as it stood up on the hillside, visible for great distances and it was attracting too many sightseers.
Over the succeeding years many walkers have visited the site, as well as aircraft historians and many parts were gradually removed or scattered over the hillsides. The once shiny metal parts have rusted or oxidised. A memorial was placed on the site, and wreaths are regularly laid in memory of the crewmen who died in the crash.
Incredibly, one visitor to the crash site, Gerry Scarratt of Hadfield, found a wedding ring in the 1970’s which turned out to be Capt Tanner’s ring. Gerry tracked down Capt. Tanner’s daughter, Jean Houlding and duly returned it to her. Jean was about 4 years old at the time of the crash. She knew little of her father’s fate until as she said:
“Almost all of my knowledge about the crash comes from research done by amateur aircraft archaeologists in Britain. Before Gerry Scarratt of Hadfield found my father's wedding ring at the wreck site and then spent four years tracking me down, all I knew was that my father had died in a plane crash in England and my mother held a grudge against Harry Truman for sending him over there.
Gerry sent me the ring and all of the crash information he could collect. In 1985 Don [Jean’s husband] and I were able to make our first trip to the crash site and we have been back for anniversary climbs in 1998 and 2008. No matter what the weather on climb day, it is always thick fog at the top as it was on the day of the crash site, and we feel very close to the fliers.”This is a photo of Jean and her husband Don during their visit to the UK in 2008:
What follows are some photos from my visit to the crash site in 2011 with my parents, my youngest son and “Puskas”.
Every expedition needs a dog
Looking back to the car park on the Snake Road:
Puskas doing what she does best … enjoying herself
The route we took followed part of the ‘Pennine Way’:
Bleaklow Moor in the distance..
Looking back the way we’d come..
Heading to the top..
The first piece of wreckage we came upon – one of the four 2,200hp Wright R-3350 -23 Duplex-Cyclone engines:
Another of the engines adorned with Remembrance wreaths and crosses:
Remains of the landing gear:
I think this is an oil radiator (any experts, please confirm):
Another oil radiator (?) that has broken open to reveal the network of tubing inside:
Whilst much of the aluminium and magnesium alloy parts are badly corroded, the stainless steel has not suffered from being exposed on the moor for nearly 70 years (note Puskas’s feet providing scale):
One of several impromptu memorials dotted around the crash site:
Section of wing and landing gear:
A few pieces of wreckage still bear the yellow marking “Over Exposed” carried:
The wreckage to the left in this picture may be a section of the mounting for one of the gun turrets:
A section of wing (?):
My mum and Puskas:
Landing gear:
Another of the engines:
The ‘official’ memorial that was established in 1988:
This is the nearby ‘trig point’, a triangulation or trigonometrical station used in geodetic surveying (common across the UK countryside, especially in the ‘wilder parts’!):
Part of the view from High Shelf Stones:
The journey back:
Puskas back at the car - she managed to cut her leg whilst racing about among the wreckage: