Howden Moors – 3 Wrecks & 1 Bomb Crater

Airspeed Consul (Icelandic Air) – 12/04/1951
Airspeed Consul TF-RPM, Icelandic Air was on a ferry flight to Iceland via Liverpool when it crashed into the area of Howden moors killing the 3 crew.

Airspeed Oxford (RAF) – 18/10/1943
Airspeed Oxford LX518, 21 (P) AFU, RAF was on his first short solo night cross country navigation exercise from Aston. He was requested by base to return as the weather started to get worse but the calls were not answered. He had crashed into the area of Howden moors, it was believed he had died on impact.

V1 Flying bomb – 24/12/1944
V1 Flying bomb had been deployed by a Heinkel 111 and was on target for the industrial city of Manchester but dropped short impacting into Howden Moors.

Hawker Hunter G-BTYL/78 (Cubitt Aviation) – 11/06/1993
Hawker Hunter G-BTYL/78 (Cubitt Aviation) formerly XL595 was a privately owned aircraft and on its way to Warton near Preston when it flew into a thunderstorm. Shortly afterwards the aircraft dived into the ground killing the pilot.

Start point – Howden Reservoir bus turn around point approx (S33 0BB). Please do not obstruct the bus turn around point, park as close to the side of the road as you can. Please see map below or view Google Map.

Meeting – 0900 and depart for the trek at 0930, this will give late arrivals time to prepare. I will then conduct a head check, safety brief, weather update and route description and answer any questions.

Finish point – Same as the start point.

Ground in general – From the car parking area there are decent tracks then starting the ascent up on to the moorlands. Crossing areas with deep peat troughs, streams and boggy areas making the trek challenging.

Duration – up to 8 hours

Distance – 10.5 miles.

Trek grade – Challenging across open moors with 1 steep gradient to the first wreck.

Points to note: A route description will be given after we have visited each wreck site and we will have plenty of opportunities for a break. This area is within MOD low flying area 8 so there could be a possibility of seeing some fast jets or helicopters. Fingers crossed. The Dambusters trained in this area before they departed on there their daring mission to Germany.