Hi Gary – all that is left now are the remains of the undercarriage and a few scraps of wing spar, along with some fragments at the impact site.

Hope that is helpful – it will be interesting to hear what you can find out.

Can you just confirm what is now left at the P5090 site ,Elliott ?

If the items in the last set of pics have gone it was a big recovery and I have a feeling that someone will know. But before I start asking around its useful to have an idea what was removed.

Any chance of a pic Peter?

Hi Dave

I had no idea that was you. I got a similar story from the landowner re: P5090 – he was adamant that it had been moved for restoration, but who knows. maybe the truth will emerge one day – the aircraft was certainly well known about – I have a copy from one if the Sunday broadsheets circa 1980 on the remains of this aircraft – that’s just asking for trouble!

OK, I confess, I am the DJ Smith! I have long forgotten why P5090 was removed and who did it. Possibly it was because it was being reported as a new wreck by, among others, an F-101 Voodoo pilot. I went to the site in 1968 when it was visible from about two miles away on the mountainside. Apart from the front fuselage, it was more or less all there. The little wing root bomb doors still hinged up and down on their bungee cords! The wings were virtually intact, minus the fabric on the rear half, as was the rear turret. Definitely one of the best preserved high ground wrecks in Britain, except maybe the Hudson on Ben Lui and the Lightning on Plynlimon. I deliberately excluded the latter from HGW and it STILL got pillaged.

I don’t think I could ever make such a claim as it would be a very unfair one, but I do rely on peoples goodwill a lot and this is usually helped along if a good trade turns up.

I could make such a list – it would be a very big one! maybe when I have a spare five minutes I will sit down and put one together.

Gary – i’d love to see these pictures of yours – if you can post them – along with their fates i’ll be grateful.

Cheers

I’m not knocking Elliott here but..

Far better to see it recovered. Which museum is Boston Z2186 in did you say:confused: I can’t seem to remember:dev2:

Elliott I have photos of many of the high ground sites going back to the 1970’s but they are all in the “old fasioned” printed format. As and when I get chance I will post some along with the eventual fate of much of the wreckage post recovery,I have many of the old recovery group reports from the early 70’s onwards and they make for interesting reading,one especially springs to mind where a certain recovery group decided to romp off to a certain crash site which was(and still is) on private land,apart from listing the wreckage they removed they also complain about how difficult it was to climb over the fences to get to the site!

Garry.

Oh dear, I had hoped this thread would develop into a record of some of the more interesting high ground wreck sites in the UK (and abroad even), but it seems that it has been hijacked by the ‘recover or rust in piece’ debate.

I suppose this is inevitable, but this subject has already had a lot of discussion – several times – elsewhere on the forum. Of course great sins have been committed in the past and a lot of material has been recovered by well meaning individuals only later to be scrapped.

Whitley P5090 is a good example – this aircraft was one of the most complete high ground wrecks in the UK up until 1980 when an unknown group/individual used a helicopter to airlift the bulk of the wreckage off the hillside for a restoration project – exhaustive enquiries have drawn a blank and its fate is unkown but most probably it ended up being scrapped.

Interestingly, one private collector salvaged a large number of components from sites in the 1970s and 80s and has passed many Whitley items onto us (alas not donated) – including the pilots escape hatch which is a wooden affair and would not have survived an extra 20-30 years exposure to the elements. We also obtained the front turret control handles and valve box, remains of a control wheel, an intact radiator, a complete universal carrier bomb rack and many other items from the same source.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing – few people regret the clearence of these sites more than me – after all my life would be a lot easier if all the Whitleys had been left alone – I have spent the last seven years searching the length and breadth of the country attempting to remedy this somewhat.

It’s in the past and sadly there is no way of protecting these remote sites from continued pillaging, so it is likely to continue. If people want to continue this discussion can you start another thread please!

Now, if someone can post some pics i’ll be very grateful 😀

The Whitley was 12V Cees, certainly at the start of it’s career.

Today I cleaned the alternator we recovered from the site, it confirmed that it’s a Mk II. We also have an idea which aircraft it can be. The plate on the alternator says 24 volts. I do know that early fighters had 12 volt electrical systems. Don’t know if bombers had 12 volt systems as well or only 24 volt.
Merlin Peter, can you tell me?

Cheers

Cees