Close to the A57 Snake Pass just a few miles outside Glossop, a foreboding moor land ridge called Bleaklow broods over the town. The hills hereabouts are steep sided and riven through with deep, U shaped valleys. In this area right on the border between Greater Manchester and the Derbyshire Peak District, the Pennine ridge is the first serious range of hills that fat, water laden clouds rolling in from the Irish Sea will encounter after the flat coastal plain. The prevailing weather not surprisingly is extremely wet - and not a little windy - and the ground is composed of peat It is well worth the effort of getting up there to see what remains today. The plane came down in 1948, but sixty three years on many major structural spars remain, undercarriage struts, pulley wheels for internal control cables, and even large sections of the light aluminium alloy from which the fuselage was constructed, have survived the ravishes of the Bleaklow weather. The most instantly recognisable parts of the aeroplane are the four 18 cylinder Wright R-3350-23 engines, still in a remarkable state of preservation. This particular power plant was problematic to say the least and caused problems for several B29's due to it's propensity for bursting into flames, however engine malfunction is not thought to have been the cause of this particular Superfortress' demise - the sad reality appears to be that she was flown into the ground by instrument malfunction and/or pilot error, and it is very obvious from the state of the wreckage that the crew wouldn't have stood a cat in hell's chance of surviving the impact. At least it must have been quick for they can have had very little idea about what was coming.All died
(After a long hike we finnaly made it )
The tail fin which still stood up-right was destroyed
after sight- seers could see it from the road
The four engines are still where they lay in 1948
cylender
rear gun mount or crawl tunnel
air cooler
part of a wing ?
the remains of the tyre good tread
piston
you can see the name Boeing
part of fuel tank ?
pulleys for the rudder cables
some old dates on rocks nearby
Plaque by the USA air force
All 13 men on board had been killed instantly when the aircraft flew into the moor. It is not known why Captain Tanner did not fly at a height sufficient to clear the
high ground. Wreckage was found at the 2,007 feet (612 metre) Higher Shelf Stones, above Bleaklow, High Peak, near Glossop, Derbyshire (at approximate Coordinates: 53.4600°N 1.8626°W).
All 13 men on board were killed.
The payroll, on board, totalling some £7,000, was found in a sack and was not burnt.
The payroll, on board, totalling some £7,000, was found in a sack and was not burnt.
After the crash investigation teams had finished, the tail fin, which still stood up-right was destroyed, as it could be seen for miles around, and was attracting too many sightseers.Souvenir hunters and the elements have taken their toll on the wreckage over time. A gun turret was removed at the MOD’s permission and is now in the air museum at Newark. Despite all this, the remaining wreckage is still very extensive
. Incredibly, a man from nearby Hadfield found a wedding ring at the crash site in the 70’s, which turned out to be Capt Tanner’s ring - which was then duly
returned to his daughter. Also, a proper memorial was erected at the site in 1988.
