Getting the hang of it.
De Havilland Venom WR557 on Croglin Fell.
(Distance
covered = 11.7 miles/Ascent =+664m)
Another wreck I visited in my first shift of wreckhunting, my companion for this one was Sharni, the Golden Retreiver.
I have actually visited this crashsite twice, once with Sharni and once with Mad Bob. Mad Bob visited two crashsites with me, this one and one up the Cheviots, he ended up in Hospital after the second one and never went with me again, Oh well, never mind!
A small clue to the identity of this wreck.
The first time I visited the Venom the weather was atrocious, zero viz and chucking it down, I remember following a farm track for most of the way then using a stream, a ruined farm buiding, a junction in a fence and a deep gully as waypoints and I ended up straight onto the crashsite. Seemed I was getting the hang of map reading and navigating.
The venon had twin tail booms, that's one of them at the top
left of the wreckage.
The second time I visited with Mad Bob the weather was even worse, but I was now familiar with the terrain and the location of the crashite, so I walked across the bleak moor straight towards the crashsite as I knew what was to the left and to the right if I strayed of course. Mad Bob was convinced we were lost on that moor, as he couldn't see more than 10ft in every direction and didn't have the benefit of knowing exactly where he was like I did.
As it's right beside a fence that is clearly marked on the map it was easy to find even in zero viz.
On both visits the weather started of dismally but improved as the day went and on both occasions the walk back to the car was in sunshine so it would seem my good luck with the weather was getting the hang of it as well!
Above and below:-There is quite a lot left of the Venom, or should I say there was quite a lot left!
As well as the large collection of wreckage beside the fence there was also some pieces a bit further over including a complete outer wing and the jet engine.
above and next two photos:-The starboard wing
Next 3 photos:-Some of the pieces on the other side of the fence.
When I made these earlier walks I didn't take any photos of the route or anything else of interest on the way as I was using a 35mm SLR camera at the time, and a roll of film was only good for 36 photos. I also hadn't come up with the idea of making a website yet because I didn't have a computer back then, so consequently I had no internet, indeed I'm not even sure if computers and the internet had even been invented yet?
The photo on the right is the crushed remains of the jet engine.
The most scattered pieces including what looks like one of the undercarriage wheels.
Notice how sunny it is now.
On the way back to the car on my second visit to this crashsite I made a diversion over to neighbouring Scarrowmannick Fell to look for a Hawker Hurricane that crashed over there, but I only had a partial grid ref so consequently found nothing.
