|
This
book aims to give readers access to the tangible remains of
hundreds of historic aircraft that still lie at crash sites
on the moors and mountains of the British Isles, all of
which can be visited. It covers almost 500 selected sites,
with emphasis given to those on open access land and
including; accurate verified grid references, up-to-date
site descriptions and recent photographs. Arranged
geographically, the areas covered include:
South-west Moors - 15 entries. ~ Wales - 93 entries. ~ Peak
District - 82 entries.
Pennines - 76 Entries. ~ Lake District - 32 entries. ~ North
Yorkshire Moors - 23 entries.
Isle of Man - 18 entries. ~ Scotland: Lowlands - 47 entries.
~ Highlands and Islands - 85 entries. ~ Ireland - 19
entries.
Representing the main upland areas of the British Isles,
each of these sections is introduced with a brief narrative
describing its geographical characteristics and aviation
background, discussing the factors and trends lying behind
the concentration of losses within each area and noting any
especially significant incidents. Individual site entries
include precise location details including, where required,
additional references for scattered major items of wreckage
and any relevant notes to aid finding or interpreting the
crash site, together with details of the aircraft, names and
fates of those onboard and the circumstances of the loss.
|
|
|
4.0
out of 5 stars -
The
best air crash site guide to the British Isles,
30 Aug 2009
This review is
from: Aircraft Wrecks: The Walker's
Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors and
Mountains of the British Isles (Hardcover)
There are various guides to wrecks sites
available that cover specific areas of the
country. The big thing about this book is its
scope. This is the book to buy if planning to
visit sites across the country.
The grid references provided are six digits,
which will narrow your search down to a hundred
square metres. If there's a substantial amount
of wreckage left to see, that shouldn't be a
problem. But searching for the fragmentary
remains of say Wellington X3348 on Edale Moor
over an area that size could be a tall order.
Having said all that, I put the book to its
intended use yesterday and located the crash
site of Halifax DT581 near Todmorden without any
difficulty at all using the grid reference
provided. Coincidentally this Halifax crashed
just a few days before the Wellington on Edale
Moor.
The well thought out maps and layout are very
useful features of this book. Each area of the
country has a map at the beginning of the
section, with numbered dots marking the air
crash sites. These sites are entered in the
section in the alphabetical order of the
aircraft make, with the reference to the map in
numerical order, along with the grid ref, crew
list and description of what happened. This way,
you can look at the map to see which crash sites
are close to each other, find the entries at a
glance and plan visits to more than one site on
a single walk. Or you can search by aircraft
type just as easily.
The scope of this book is its best selling point
though, detailing crash sites in Ireland and the
UK. And though some of the photos are a few
years old, this is the most up to date and
comprehensive reference book on the subject.
It's a bit heavy to carry about the hills, but
also a bit too nice to get battered in the back
of a pack. This is a book for planning visits to
air crash sites with the necessary OS map, and
at that it's unbeatable. There are crash sites
not covered in this book - its aim is to detail
every high ground crash site where there is
still some evidence of what took place, not
every air crash site in the country.
It's also worth searching for further
information if you are interested in a
particular crash site story. The names Nick
Wotherspoon (Lancashire Aircraft Investigation
Team) and Alan Clark (Peak District Air Accident
Research) in particular crop up all the time in
searches. The authors of this book are at the
forefront of this field, and their research sets
the benchmark. These are the people who turn up
at crash sites with JCBs and who go through
endless military records and contact families
and veterans. In other words, the information
provided is first hand.
|
5.0
out of 5 stars -
A
guide to points of interest, 24
Aug 2009
| By |
TheOldManOfConiston
("Lancashire") |
This
review is from: Aircraft Wrecks:
The Walker's Guide: Historic Crash Sites
on the Moors and Mountains of the
British Isles (Hardcover)
Having come across a few aeroplane wrecks
while out walking over the years I
purchased this book in the expectation of
perhaps learning a bit more about them,
and on that score this book delivered.
There are descriptions (some quite
detailed) of how the aeroplanes came to
crash and a summary of what wreckage
remains at the locations detailed (6
figure grid ref and place name are given).
The wrecks are in effect covered as points
of interest to add into a walk, for unlike
a typical walking guide the book does not
give route or walk descriptions, leaving
you to work out your own route. The book
is well illustrated with many photos of
the wrecks it covers, which lie across all
the main walking areas of the
"British Isles". The tragic loss
of life in the considerable number of
accidents (I never imagined there were so
many) is brought home by the lists of the
peoples names included, but remarkably it
seems there were a number of people who
actually survived the accidents. In
summary, if you are interested in adding a
few points of interest with a difference
into your walks then I recommend this book
even though it is a little pricy for a
walking guide that has no routes in it! |
|
5.0
out of 5 stars -
An
excellent book, 22 May 2010
This
review is from: Aircraft
Wrecks: The Walker's Guide: Historic
Crash Sites on the Moors and Mountains
of the British Isles (Hardcover)
This is a marvelous book, giving a great
armchair read before getting out your
maps and planning a day out. The
directions could be better with maybe
the recommended 6 figure reference
starting point for people new to the
area to avoid straying over private land
and maybe a list of the OS maps needed
for each site but all in all a great
book. Just be sure to make your own
notes for future reference. A joy to own
and read and more of a challenge than
simple GPS references.
I have only found time to visit 1 site
so far but already the book has paid for
itself.
Thoroughly recommended |
|
|
|
|
