B17 Crash Site Meltham Moor UK

BEWARE ! Turn down/off your sound : WIND ! Approach and quick inspection of what remains of the B17 that went into the moor above Meltham, West Yorkshire, U.K., in 1944 ( was it ? ) Low cloud did for it. 50ft. more altitude and it would likely have cleared the moor. Rear gunner managed to crawl across and off the moor to raise alarm. Not many visit this site as the moor is fenced off and the preserve of stroppy gamekeepers. There were survivors and twenty five years ago when I first came across it there was a lot more stuff to see. It looks like it's been tidied up a little here and lots disappeared after being picked over by souvenir hunters. I recall about twenty years ago a young lad dragging a huge sheet of something ( wing ? ) twice his size behind him to take home !
Apologies for the sound quality, it was near freezing and there was a fierce gale blowing. January 2008.

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• B17
• Bomber
• WW11
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• USAAF
• Crash-site
• Meltham-Moor
• Marsden
• West-Nab
• UK
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[myvoiceknowskungfu]

Is this up by the catch? I live in Meltham.. But full on do not know how to find it by "it lay within the boundaries of the 'Marsden Moor Estate' ( ? ) and therefore private land , and my original OS map with the wreck's co-ordinates is long gone . But , using the trig' point atop West Nab as your datum stride about 1000 yards NNE , 320d'ish and be alert for a small pile of remains . 53,34'57"n/1,53'43"w , ...maybe. "

[mercsport]

"Is this up by the catch?"

I don't know. "catch" ? What / where's that ?

If you are unable to employ co-ordinates, you ought to be able to find it during a good stride about the moor. About the middle, a little nearer to West Nab than the quarry edge overlooking Marsden.

[Tooombucket]

Hi, I am a bit of a plane enthusiast and live in Meltham I just wondered if you could give me some directions so I could get some pictures? Thanks in advance

From what I can tell it looks like its near West Nab and the waterfall am i correct?

[mercsport]

Yes . Collier and Wilkinson in their original book 'Dark Peak Wrecks' of 1979 didn't oblige with map references for the B17 as it lay within the boundaries of the 'Marsden Moor Estate' ( ? ) and therefore private land , and my original OS map with the wreck's co-ordinates is long gone . But , using the trig' point atop West Nab as your datum stride about 1000 yards NNE , 320d'ish and be alert for a small pile of remains . 53,34'57"n/1,53'43"w , ...maybe. Google Earth displays a light patch .

[CrisisRik08]

Nobody died in the plane on impact.But unfortunatly 2 died later in hospital from there injuries.

[mercsport]

According to Collier's book of 1979 'Dark Peak Wrecks' , of the five crew ,three were uninjured and two hospitalised . He mentions only Johnston , the pilot ,dying from his injuries a long time after the event in1961. The other injured person ,Vukelic the navigator , made a full recovery. ( They had both been forward in the plexiglass nose blister at impact ).

[lukelikesrock]

Btw the gamekeepers are stropy because you are atracting tourists on to land which is home to many wildlife which are being disturbed by every twat who goes looking bit of an old ww2 B-17!!!

[jonnyb26]

i went up and found it, try the co-ordinates 53,35,20'66 N  1,53,29,67W

if they are not exact then you wont be far off, If you start at the summit of wes nab and walk in a straight line down the middle of the moor, you should be able to see blackmoorfoot resovoir easily on your right, STAY MIDDLE BUT A LITTLE BIT RIGHT OF THE MOOR

[JackAnderson94]

been there. its a windy walk lol