EEP

Yep EEP is English Electric Preston

Crew of HE 226 Remembered

If lost air crew are on board then there is no chance of you getting a licence. But if all the crew have known graves … then you might still get a licence.

Even through all or different views on this subject one thing is quite clear.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Hi everyone – just retnd from 3 weeks in france 🙂 & catching up – the website that the original info was taken from was mine & I am the author of the page mentioned – in this area there are still many such “High Ground Wreck” sites with varying amounts of wreckage left. HE226 has to my knowledge been subject to two licenced excavations by different groups and many parts have been recovered and preserved. I have visited the site and attended one of the excavations, but have no artefacts from it. It is an unusual site in that the the level of destruction during the crash of the aircraft components is quite shocking – the ground here has virtually no top soil & is a solid limestone pavement a few centimeters down. So although there does appear to be a substantial amount of wreckage, what is left is very badly shattered.

A memorial at each site would be nice and I totally agree with the final sentiment above – however this would be very costly / time consuming for an individual or small group, so I feel that the remaining wreckage may be seen as a memorial + the virtual memorials in the form of the web pages I create – which has obviously worked in this case, bringing this site and the fate of these airmen to peoples attention.

Sadly I feel I cannot publish exact locations on my site and only give out such information by request (though I obviously included enough to allow this one to be located with a little detective map work) as not everyone is as responcible or respectful as the original poster of this thread. I have seen parts taken illegally fron wrecksites featured on my website appear on ebay & have been involved with attempts to persuade ebay to stop listing these items – however many parts offered for sale are actually from legally excavated sites and offered by well known aviation enthusiasts – I personally feel this is morally wrong, but other people obviously have other opinions / priorities 🙁

Perseus Lost by RAF Museum

In 1974 Bolton Sub Aqua Club successfully recovered the Perseus engine from Blackburn Skua II L2892 of 776 Squadron from a flooded disused quarry near Bolton and following cleaning and conservation at the Bolton Institute of Technology it was passed on to the RAF Museum & placed in store at Cardington. Sadly its subsequent fate is not clear and enquiries to date have not managed to track it down.

Brief details of the crash and photos of the site today are on my website at:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/Skua L2892.htm

A-26 Invaders on Time Team

Spoke to the Time Team production Company last week & they confirmed that this years series including “our” Warton dig on the Invaders will be shown on Sky next year. So it should be aired several times at least for those who missed it.

Also Ken Ellis has confirmed that our article on the dig will be in Flypast as soon as space is available – there are some good shots that you missed on the programme including the complete upper turret being lifted intact – (before EOD blew it up :confused: ) Still we are busy cleaning and reassembling the pieces at the RAF Millom museum & the turret is starting to look pretty good 🙂

Lost Treasure

Do you think there is any chance of the following “Lost” item being in there anywhere?

In 1974 Bolton Sub Aqua Club successfully recovered the engine from Blackburn Skua II L2892 of 776 Squadron from a flooded disused quarry near Bolton and following cleaning and conservation at the Bolton Institute of Technology it was passed on to the RAF Museum & placed in store at Cardington. Sadly its subsequent fate is not clear and enquiries to date have not managed to track it down.

Brief details of the crash and photos of the site today are on my website at:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/Skua L2892.htm

Thanks Elliott – back at work now – two weeks earlier than anticipated! Managed my first wreck foray last week – Oxford BM837 of 410 Sqn – flown by Flt Lt Cybulski who was injured in the crash – he was the chap flying the famous Mossie that was photographed badly scorched after a Do217 he was attacking blew up as he closed in.

Feeling much better than before as kept getting out of breath & over tired – defect was from birth apparently but only showed up after I collapsed taking the TT people out on the marsh in Feb last year – I now have £3500 worth of Titanium alloy patching me up – should be fun at airports 😉

Warton Junk Yard

As to other remains, there was a pile of damaged aircraft near the western end of the main runway, whilst the base was still occupied by the USAAF. Could it be that they were all bulldozed off the base?

Hi – I have spoken to several locals over the years & it seem that many of those who were boys at the time gained access to this area – Many Hadrian gliders were dumped here at the end of the war & local boys used the wings to make rafts on the river. I have also spoken to a metal detectorist who tried his luck on the area, but the ground is seeded with hundreds of 9mm sidearm rounds so he gave up.

Also I have heard of material dumped on the marsh – though of course it was not the marsh we know today – one local came forward on the TT dig & offered to show us where boxes of tools were dumped! Finally the heavily corroded A-26 leg recovered during the TT dig is almost certainly not off either of the aircraft excavated – there were several A-26 U/C collapse incidents on the base – but why go to the trouble of dragging it out on the marsh? I can only assume a local wanted it to tie a boat to?