Lancaster R5539 excavated near Malmesbury
The site was near Malmesbury, Wilts. Details, thanks to the organiser, here:
“Lancaster R5539 was acquired by the A&AEE based at Boscombe Down whose job it was to conduct and evaluate tests on aircraft and armament about to enter service. On 18th of April 1942 R5539 took off from Boscombe Down at 1330 hrs under the command of W/Cdr Peter Stanley Salter with a crew of six that also included S/Ldr Jack Donald Harris, Richard Lewis Bilton, Andrew Nicholas Tracey, Percy Frederick Wakelin and Norman Gladswood Wilson, to conduct diving trials loaded with inert concrete bombs to simulate a full bomb load.
The dive tests consisted of six dives, three at one third throttle and three at full throttle. The dives were to be started at 13,000 feet with a recovery at 5,000 feet in the vicinity of Malmesbury,Wiltshire. Weather conditions in the area on the 18th of April 1942 were 3/10ths to 6/10ths cloud cover at between 3,000 to 4,000 feet with visibility between 2 to 3 miles and wind at 10 to 15 m.p.h from S.W to N.E . At approximately 1 ½ hours after takeoff, R5539 was seen to emerge from a cloud base of 4,000 feet in a slight dive, and after a short distance R5539 half rolled to port and became inverted, a moment later the Lancaster again half rolled but this time to starboard and moments later dived into the ground at Heath farm. On impact with the ground the aircraft disintegrated and burst into flames, burying itself 20-30 feet into the Wiltshire soil. Shortly before the crash occurred a section of mainplane skin paneling approximately 5’ 1” x 2’6” from directly behind the port outboard engine was seen to fall from the aircraft and was recovered from a field about 700 yards from the impact point. The demise of R5539 was attributed to loss of flying control resulting from this panel becoming detached due to a failure of the plug rivets securing it to the front spar and the panel striking the tailplane. Due to this accident immediate action was taken to redesign the fixing of panels to the front spar.”
The aircraft was dug back in the eighties but the engines were out of reach of the JCB used. Three weeks ago a bigger digger recovered the smashed remains of four Merlins, undercarriage, wheels and nacelle parts. In the center section were indeed the remains of several reinforced concrete bombs. The crash left such a massive crater that it had been filled with farm rubbish. This included pieces of machinery, bicycle lamps, hundreds of bottles and jars and the bonnet and rear axle of a car.
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