Cheviot airplane crash sites

Unfortunately Storm Isha meant that we had to change our plans and our walk to the crash sites on The Cheviot had to be postponed. As we wait for the next weather window to brave the famous Cheviot peat bog, here's a short story of the airplane crash sites on The Cheviot massif.

There are 7 airplane crash sites on The Cheviot massif, and several more dotted around in the Cheviot hills. Most of them date from the Second World War, when there was a lot of activity over the North East's skies, with several important army bases located in Northumberland, Yorkshire, and the Scottish Borders. The crash sites tell a story, sometimes unfortunately a tragic one, of the heroism and bravery of the pilots, and of the generosity of the local people.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please feel free to use this post to find and visit the crash sites but please remember that they are protected sites. They are also sites of tragic events so please be respectful, take nothing and leave nothing behind.

Here is a map of the Cheviot crash sites:

1. West Hill - Vickers Wellington Mk.IC Z1078 (JN-L), 150 Squadron RAF Snaith, crashed on the 15th of January 1942. The crew were: Sgt Laurence Warren Hunt (pilot, aged 20, died), P/O Bertram Alexander Macdonald (2nd officer, aged 21, injured), Sgt William Henry Allworth (w/op air gunner, aged ?, injured), Sgt Thomas Walter Irving (observer, aged 23, died), Sgt Frederick George Maple (w/op air gunner, aged 33, died) and Sgt Charles Frederick Glover (air gunner, aged ?, injured). The Wellington Z1078 was one of the 14 aircraft charged with a mission to bomb Hamburg. The mission went well, however, on return the aircraft lost its navigation controls which made it fly too far north over the North Sea and glanced the flank of The Cheviot which was covered in a cloud at the time. It crashed and immediately caught fire. the noise of the collision was heard in the nearby Dunsdale Farm and John Dagg, the local farmer, rushed up the hill to deliver aid. According to the records he found 3 of the crew laying unconscious next to the wreckage (P/O Macdonald, Sgt Hunt and Sgt Maple) and Sgts Allworth and Glover sheltering behind the rock. Two more shepherds joined Mr Dagg and together they brought the survivors down off the hill in a snow blizzard. Sgt Irving died on impact, and unfortunately Sgts Maple and Hunt died of their injuries the next day. There are a few small parts of the plane remaining on the hillside, these include part of the wing and part of the oil tank.

2. West Hill - Boeing B17-G Fortress 44-6504 (PU-M), 303rd Bomb Group/360th Bomb Squadron Molesworth, crashed on the 16th of December 1944. The crew were: George Anderson Kyle (2nd Lt, pilot, injured), James H. Hardy (F/O, co-pilot, injured), Ernest G. Schieferstein (Sgt, engineered, injured), Joel A. Berly (Sgt, radio operator, injured), Fred Holcombe (F/O, navigator, died), Frank R. Turner (Sgt, togglier/bombardier, died), William R. Kaufmann (Sgt, gunner, injured), George p. Smith (Sgt, ball gunner, injured), and Howard F. Delaney (Sgt, tail gunner, injured). The B17-G's mission was to bomb the Marshalling Yards at Ulm in Germany. The weather was not perfect, and as the bombers reached their assembly point over the North Sea their all received a message to abort the mission and head for the assembly point at the RAF Kirmington in Lincolnshire as the fog was by then too thick at their base of origin. The crew spotted ships below and decided to return without dropping the bombs. Shortly after their navigation controls failed, and they ended up 20 miles north of the Cheviot summit and shortly after they hit the summit of West Hill in a blizzard. The nose of the aircraft was crashed in the fall, killing two members of the crew. However, the rest survived the impact. Turner, Holcombe and Kyle who thought they were the only survivors, headed down to the Mounthooly farm. The local farmers, John Dagg of Dunsdale and Frank Moscrop of Southernknowe also heard the plane coming down, and acompanied by the shepherd Arch Bertram, and John Dagg's border collie Sheila, they headed up the hill in the blizzard. Sheila is credited with finding the remaining four survivors of the crash who were huddled together in the peat, sheltering from the blizzard, whilst the shephers searched the wreck for more survivors. John Dagg and Frank Moscrop were awarded the British Empire Medal for their valiant rescue of the injured airmen. Sheila, the border collie, also received a medal. She was the only civilian dog ever awarded the Dicken Medal, which is the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. The scroll of thanks that the shepherds received is displayed at the Wooler library. There is still quite a bit left of the aircraft on the West Hill, and the two large craters left by the exploding bombs can be seen as well. However, the bits of the wreckage move with the peat, and the summit of West Hill is extremely boggy, so proceed with caution.

3. Cairn Hill - Vickers Warwick HG136, 280 Squadron based RAF Thornaby, crashed on 23rd of July 1946 on its final flight to RAF Brackla for scrapping. The crew were: F/Lt Kenneth Frederick Wyeth (pilot, aged 23, died), F/O Herbert Arthur Cody (navigator, aged ?, died) and F/Lt Dennis Thomas Chadd (wireless operator, aged 23, died). The plane took off in the morning, and went off course and crashed 1 mile off the Cheviot summit. A search mission was launched from RAF Thornaby in the afternoon, but the crash was only discovered by hillwalkers the next day. Parts of the plane are on display at Bamburgh Castle (the tailplane and rear fuselage) and at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington (the front gun turret). Large chunks of the plane remain at the crash site and can be seen from the Pennine Way.

4. The Cheviot - Short Stirling EE972, 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), crashed on the 25th of September 1944. The crew were: F/O John Henry Verral (pilot, injured), F/O E F Insley (student pilot, injured), F/Sgt Paulus Senor Colonel (navigator, died), Sgt D C Bisgrove (flight engineer, injured), Sgt T K Hatfield (flight engineer, injured), F/Sgt David Colville McLackland (air bomber, died), W/O2 Joseph Arthur Hay (gunner, injured), W/O Peter Anthony Allen (gunner, died of injuries). The Short Stirling was on a training mission when it crashed into the Cheviot whilst flying in the low cloud. Two crew members died during the crash, and one died the next day of injuries. Two of the surviving crew members walked down the Langleeford and alerted the shepherds who assisted them in the rescue efforts. There isn't much left from the aircraft apart from an oil cooler on the summit and an engine cowling in Coldlaw Sike. The wreckage is not easy to find (image from www.wtdwhd.co.uk, we haven't found it yet), and looking for it requires caution as the bog on top of the Cheviot is very treacherous.

5. Avro Lancaster KB745 (VR-V), 419 squadron RCAF, crashed on the 9th of April 1944. The crew were: F/O G R Duncan (pilot, aged 21, died), F/O W G Layng (navigator, aged 21, died), P/O J W F Hall (flight engineer, aged 20, died), F/O A Gaddess (bomb aimer, aged 21, died), P/O W R Karstens (wireless operator, aged 22, died), F/O D A Trott (air gunner, aged 19, died), P/O T B Tierney (rear gunner, aged 22, died), The aircraft took off from Middleton St George on a mission to attack the U-boat pens in Bergen in the Netherlands. It went missing shortly after take-off. the wreckage was found the next day by a young shepherd, Basil Oliver, as the older shepherds were at a flock market at Rothbury. The crash site suggested that the crash occurred on the return trip from the mission, when for reasons unknown they veered 11 miles off their intended course. There isn't much left of the aircraft but the scar in the hillside can still be seen.

6. The Cheviot - Hawker Hart Trainer K6482, 152 Squadron, RAF Acklington, crashed on the 10th of October 1939. The crew were: Sgt Thomas Mycroft (pilot, aged 24, died). F/O Edward Christopher Deanesly flew with Sgt Thomas Mycroft in the Hawker Hart from Acklington to RAF Turnhouse to collect a Gladiator aircraft of the 602 Auxiliary Squadron and move it to Acklington. The weather worsened during the mission, and due to decreased visibility they were forced to make a forced landing on what turned out to be the Isle of Arran. Eventually they reached Turnhouse, where the plan was for F/O Deanesly to fly back in the Gladiator and for Sgt Mycroft to take the Hart back to Acklington. The Gladiator was not quite ready but Sgt Mycroft, who had less than 100 hours of flying experience, was ordered to fly the Hart back. The visibility on The Cheviot was poor and the summit was in the cloud. The crash was witnessed by a local shepherd James Buchanan of Goldscleugh, who saw the plane crash into the hillside and burst into flames. He attempted rescue but the flames were too high so he walked 8 miles to Hethpool to telephone for help. Sgt Mycroft's body was recovered the next day. There is a scar in the hillside where the plane crashed, quite a bit of the wreckage remaining on site, and a small cairn nearby.

7. Bellyside Hill - Supermarine Spitfire MkIIb P8587, 57 Operational Training Unit RAF Eshott, crashed on the 25th of March 1943. Flt Sgt Eric Lindsay Brown (pilot, aged 24) died in the crash. The pilot was a trainee at the RAF Eshott. He crashed into the hillside flying in low loud. the aircraft caught fire on impact. A small cairn marks the spot of the crash. Photo of the marker from www.wtdwhd.co.uk.