The Bleaklow Bomber was a

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

(USAF) Boeing RB-29A Superfortress that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones on

Bleaklow Bleaklow is a high, largely peat-covered, gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. It is north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass ( A57), and south of the A628 Woodhead Pass. Much of it is nearly 2, ...

in the Peak District in 1948. It was modified as a reconnaissance aircraft, rather than a bomber.

Superfortress ''Over Exposed''

Boeing 'RB-29A 44-61999 was part of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 91st Reconnaissance Group, 311th Air Division in the Strategic Air Command of USAF. The aircraft bore the name ''Over Exposed'' after it was flown in July 1946 by the 509th Composite Group during

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

to photograph

nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll consisted of the detonation of 23 nuclear weapons by the United States between 1946 and 1958 on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Tests occurred at 7 test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air, ...

, including the dropping of an atomic bomb by B-29 Superfortress ''Dave's Dream''. The aircraft had also taken part in the

Berlin airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

during 1948.

Mission and crash incident

The aircraft crashed at Higher Shelf Stones on the Bleaklow moorland plateau near Glossop in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

on 3 November 1948. The aircraft was on a routine daytime flight with two other aircraft, leaving

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England. RAF Scampton stands on the site of a Firs ...

near

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

at about 10:15 and heading to the US Air Force base at

Burtonwood Burtonwood is a village in the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook, in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the name Burtonwood is known worldwide as the location of the ...

near

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. The pilot Captain Landon Tanner and co-pilot Captain Harry Stroud were flying by instruments as the area was covered in low cloud. Based on the flight time, the crew believed it had passed the hills and began to descend. At about 11:00 the aircraft hit the ground at 610m above sea level, 300m north east of the summit of Higher Shelf Stones and it was engulfed in flames. All 11 crew and 2 military passengers perished in the crash. When the aircraft failed to arrive at the Burtonwood airbase, the nearby

RAF Mountain Rescue Service The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service (RAFMRS) provides the UK military's only all-weather search and rescue asset for the United Kingdom. Royal Air Force mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircr ...

was called to search for the missing aircraft. Already on a training exercise upon the Kinder Scout moors, the RAF Harpur Hill rescue team headed to Bleaklow and located the crash site at about 16:30, by which time the light was fading. The debris of the aircraft was scattered with only the tail section intact. The recovery of the occupants took place the following morning and their bodies were taken to Burtonwood. The aircraft was carrying the $7,400 wages for the Burtonwood airbase. The money survived the fire and was recovered at the crash site by the American Military Police.

Crew

* Captain Landon P. Tanner (pilot) * Captain Harry A. Stroud (co-pilot) * Sergeant Ralph W. Fields (engineer) * Sergeant Charles R. Wilbanks (navigator) * Sergeant Gene A. Gartner (radio operator) * Sergeant David D. Moore (radar operator) * Sergeant Saul R. Banks (camera crew) * Sergeant Donald R. Abrogast (camera crew) * Sergeant Robert I. Doyle (camera crew) * Private William M. Burrows (camera crew) * Corporal Clarence M. Franssen (passenger) * Corporal George Ingram Jr (passenger) * Captain Howard E. Keel (photographic advisor)

Crash site

In 1988, a memorial was erected at the site by servicemen from

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

, with a plaque in memory of those who died in the crash. Much of the wreckage is still exposed, including the Duplex-Cyclone engines, wing sections, fuselage sections, undercarriage and gun turrets. One of the gun turrets is on display at the air museum in

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. In the 1970s a local man found a ring at the crash site, which was identified as Captain Tanner's wedding ring and was returned to his daughter. The area around the crash site is challenging to navigate. The most obvious route is from the trig pillar at the summit of Higher Shelf Stones. It is about a walk to the crash site from the lay-by at the summit of

Snake Pass Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 ...

, starting along the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

footpath through Devil's Dyke. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom in 2020, local

Mountain Rescue Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

teams issued warnings that inexperienced hikers should exercise caution before attempting a winter visit.

Other Bleaklow air crashes

Several other military aircraft have crashed on the Bleaklow moors.

References

{{B-29 family Peak District Aviation accidents and incidents in 1948 Aviation accidents and incidents in England