Fury.
Hawker Fury K8263 on Tipperweir Hill.
(Distance covered =
5.5 mile/Ascent =+215m)
Avro Anson N5064 on Gallow Hill.
(Distance covered =
2.15mile/Ascent =+148m)
Day 3 of my mini break to Scotland in the half term of 2021; on day1 and 2 I had enjoyed glorious weather and stunning scenery so I was hoping day 3 would be the same.
I had set off for my three days of walking with an itinerary but that had gone out the window straight away. The walk I'd planned for day 3 I completed on day 1, I decided against doing the planned walk for day 2 and instead completed two of the 3 I'd planned for day 3, so that just left a walk of about 5 miles to Tipperweir Hill in Glen Dye to have a look for remains of a Hawker Fury biplane that crashed there in 1938.
above and below:-Another very early start.
This would actually be the second time I'd walked up onto Tipperweir Hill, back in 2015 I followed the same route to go and checkout the remains of Miles Master AZ333*. I had a partial grid reference for the Fury back then but that would have meant searching a 1km sq area, an area which was now in the middle of a windfarm. I also had time constraints as I wanted to go to another site after the Master and then I had to be back in Aberdeen in time to pick the girls up from a dancing competition. I therefore did not search for the Fury on my first visit to Tipperweir Hill.
This Deer fence was not there in 2015, luckily for me it had a walkers gate.
above and next two photos:-Following the same route that I took in 2015 onto Tipperweir Hill.
Back in 2015 while walking down the hill back to the car I bumped into someone else going up the hill to look for the Fury, he had the same partial grid reference as me and had already made numerous searches of the area but had found nothing, so knowing this I never went back myself to have a look. That is until 2021 when I was contacted by a hillwalker called Ben who was out for a walk on Tipperweir Hill and had stumbled across some metal parts.
above and below:-Not on the 2015 route anymore.
After finding the parts Ben had googled 'Tipperweir Hill' to try and find out what it was he had found, he came across my webpage about AZ333 so contacted me to see if I knew what it was. I informed him it was most likely the remains of the Hawker Fury so he gave me a 10 digit grid reference so I could go and have a look for myself to confirm what it was.
above and below:- Closing in on Ben's grid reference.
As it was a very long drive for me to go just to discover the metal parts were merely bits of an old fence, animal feeder or agricultural machinery etc I first dispatched Chris, my 'website buddy' from Inverness to go and check it out. Therefore as I was walking through the plantation and nearing the grid reference Ben had given me I already knew I was going to find bits of Hawker Fury K8263.
Above and below:-A bit of a bonus cloud inversion on Tipperweir Hill.
above and below:-The windfarm on the north eastern end of Tipperweir.
The wreckage is hard to spot as it is mostly buried.
A piece of the Fury with a part number and inspection stamp, parts like this enabled Chris to confirm it was indeed wreckage from the Fury.
Above and below:-Further proof the remains were from a Hawker Fury.
Scraps of yellow and silver painted fabric, quite amazing this has survived on a Scottish hillside for more than 83 years.
More crashsite photos.
above and below:-The cloud inversion decided to come after me and chased me off the hill.
A frog.
Above and next 6 photos:- Enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and scenery on my descent off Tipperweir Hill.
Because I'd set off so early, by the time I arrived back at the Shitroen it was barely mid day, I had a four hour drive home still to go but I still figured I could fit in another walk as long as it wasn't too much of an epic trek. Trouble is I didn't have a map for any other walks other than the 16 mile trek to the Mosquito in Glen Esk.
Although I didn't have any more maps I did have a GPS, which I have as a back up should I ever get lost. A quick text message to Stuart and Chris meant I was soon in possession of co-ordinates for the crashsite of an Avro Anson on Gallow Hill, not far from Dundee. So as it was a pretty short walk and the weather was so nice I set off to see if I could find it without the use of a map.
The Shitroen parked on the A928 next to Gallow Hill.
Whilst I didn't have a map I did have a compass, so in the very unlikely scenario that I found myself lost I could just walk north east and I would hit the A928. One big disadvantage of having no map was I didn't know if there were any nice paths I could follow, but my luck was in and I found one almost straight away.
above and below:-I found a nice path to follow that started at this burn.
The scenery on Gallow Hill was not as spectacular as what I'd experienced the past couple of days so I photographed an old fencepost instead.
On top of Gallow Hill looking over to where the Anson crashed.
Final resting place of Avro Anson N5064 on
Gallow Hill.
above and below:-A rather lonely tree.
above and below:-Nearly back to the A928 already.
