Really missing North Wales

[richardh1905]

I may be wrong, but i think there was a proposed prosecution of a group of walkers, some years ago, who deliberately tried to disturb the wreckage of a bomber, that went down in the main Brecon Beacons area, in the Van Y Big vicinity.

Quite right too.

There was an outcry in Orkney a few years ago when some divers removed a brass porthole or something similar from the wreck of HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow (835 lives were lost). I believe that the item was returned.

[fernman]

Check out this video, "Secrets of the Carneddau - the Canbera Jet Crash Site":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6x7GoFlm0

[MkPotato]

Check out this video, "Secrets of the Carneddau - the Canbera Jet Crash Site":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6x7GoFlm0

That’s a beautiful spot as well as a somber war grave. It’s a fair old descent and reascent from Llewelyn, so I’ve never got round to doing it.


I quite fancy setting off along Eigiau, then go up Llewellyn via that cwm, then back down via Foel Grach, Dulyn etc.

[ninthace]

That’s a beautiful spot as well as a somber war grave. It’s a fair old descent and reascent from Llewelyn, so I’ve never got round to doing it.

It is not a war grave, it is a crash site. There was no war on at the time and nobody is buried there.  The remains of the crew would have been recovered and buried in accordance with their families’ wishes.  The Canberra normally had a crew of 2, a pilot and a navigator/bomb aimer (not 2 pilots as stated in the video). The navigator, poor soul, had a fairly cramped position within the aircraft with a very limited view out. The Canberra was the first operational jet bomber in RAF service and lasted a phenomenal length of time.  They were still flying out of RAF Wyton when I lived there in 1989-91.  Sadly we lost the Station Commander in a Canberra during that time.
Info here http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/english-electric-canberra-wk129-carnedd-llewelyn/

[richardh1905]

Check out this video, "Secrets of the Carneddau - the Canbera Jet Crash Site":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6x7GoFlm0

I've been up to Ffynnon Llyffant, a beautiful remote spot, on my way up Llewellyn one winter, and spotted the wreckage. I always fancy bivvying up there - I even found a promising howff in a boulder field, but never got around to it. Maybe I still will one day.

[fernman]

It's not clear to me what the official status of the 1952 Aer Lingus crash site is in Cwm  Edno, Moelwyns. What with it being in a bog and weather conditions being described as 'atrocious' at the time of the recovery, not all of the bodies were accounted for. I've always understood it to be a grave.

A detailed account  can be found here:
https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/douglas-dakota-ei-afl-cwm-edno/

[MkPotato]

It is not a war grave, it is a crash site. There was no war on at the time and nobody is buried there.  The remains of the crew would have been recovered and buried in accordance with their families’ wishes.  The Canberra normally had a crew of 2, a pilot and a navigator/bomb aimer (not 2 pilots as stated in the video). The navigator, poor soul, had a fairly cramped position within the aircraft with a very limited view out. The Canberra was the first operational jet bomber in RAF service and lasted a phenomenal length of time.  They were still flying out of RAF Wyton when I lived there in 1989-91.  Sadly we lost the Station Commander in a Canberra during that time.
Info here http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/english-electric-canberra-wk129-carnedd-llewelyn/

To be fair, I’m probably being overly sentimental, but anywhere that is a memorial (official or otherwise) to where people died, deserves a little reverence.


The Bleaklow site doesn’t have any buried bodies, but it’s probably fair to say it’s a memorial. 

[ninthace]

To be fair, I’m probably being overly sentimental, but anywhere that is a memorial (official or otherwise) to where people died, deserves a little reverence.


The Bleaklow site doesn’t have any buried bodies, but it’s probably fair to say it’s a memorial.

I wont argue with that - any such site should be treated with respect, be it military or civil.  I have come across quite a few in my walking career, some on purpose and some by accident.  Incidentally, we have another Canberra crash site near us in Tiverton,  It ended up in the Grand Western Canal in 1961 - the site is marled by an information board and memorial.