Chimney Rock mountain summit bivvi

[666_pack]

Remember all the chat about the plane wreck on Chimney Rock?
So who's up for a summit bivvi on the 30th July and we'll have a look for it!?

Plan is to head to Meelmore lodge after work and head to Chimney for a Recce/bivvi.

Meeting @ Meelmore Lodge 630pm


666_pack
J
Dowser
Kat
SuspectMonkey
Tim
Chris
MikeD
Chuck
BillyBackpack*
matthewrblack *

*Possible

[J]

If I can escape I'm defo up for this one. Sounds like a classic.

If you're interested there's more information on the plane crash/wreck here:
http://www.chimneyrockb26crash.com/

10th April 1944
USAAF training activities in Northern Ireland were under the control of the 8th Air Force Composite Command, based at Kirassosck House, Magherlin, Co. Down. The organization created specifically for training purposes was known as a Combat Crew Replacement Centre group, four of which were activated here. No. 3 CCRC was based at Toome.
 
On the 10th April 1944 at 1445hrs three B26 Marauders took off from Toome on a Gunnery Training Mission. 2nd Lt Richard A. Newman flew the lead plane No. 025. The right wingman flying aircraft No. 054 was 2nd Lt Eugene G. Wegman and the left wingman flying aircraft No. 41-18150 a B26b-4 was 2nd Lt Howell C. Osborne Jr.
 
Weather on that day was described as visibility four miles, Stratus clouds at one thousand feet, overcast with breaks, reported haze.
At approximately 1530 hrs the flight was circling over the Irish sea, approximately two to three miles east of Kilkeel in an attempt to get over a cloud bank building up on the Mourne Mountains. 2nd Lt Osborne's plane was out of position and approximately 1200 and 1500 feet behind and four hundred feet below the other two aircraft when it disappeared into a cloud bank never to be seen again.
 
Lt Newman made two attempts to contact Lt Osborne passing on his altitude and course (280 degrees) but found that radio contact had been lost. Lt Wegman stated that previously to this all aircraft had had good interplane contact by radio.
 
James Cousins of Glasdrumman was working in the quarries near the head of Bloody Bridge river valley that day. Low cloud and mist enveloped the Mournes on this occasion. He recalled years later to Ernie Cromie of the Ulster Aviation Society in an article in the publication "12 Miles of Mourne" how he heard the engines of a plane approach his location from the direction of the sea. The sound got louder and louder until he thought the plane was going to crash on top of him then suddenly the engines revved up the plane seemed to turn away to the south and the noise died away. He was unaware that the plane had crashed into Chimney Rock Mountain because thick mist and an intervening ridge blocked the sound of the impact.
 
This was the first fatal accident involving a plane of the No. 3 CCRC. The crew was listed as missing until members of the American 5th Infantry Division on a routine hike in the Mournes discovered the wreckage. Official confirmation of the accident reached the 364th Service Squadron on the 15th April 1944.
 
A report on the accident dated 21/4/44 by Major George Commenator concluded that 2nd Lt Osborne "Made an error in technique by permitting himself to get too far out of position in formation and that the pilot made an error in judgement by flying into clouds in a known mountainous area." No reason was offered to explain why Howell Osborne's plane had had difficulty keeping up with the formation. The fact that the plane he was flying had been retired from frontline service because it was "War Weary" may have been a contributing factor.
 
The crew were as follows:
·               2nd Lt Howell C. Osborne Jr (Pilot)
          ID: 0-685276 (Fort Smith, Arkansas)
·               2nd Lt Chester M. Turner (Co Pilot)
          ID: 0-753462 (Cowley County, Kansas)
·               Staff Sgt Roy R. Cappe Jr (Aerial Engineer)
          ID: 13041696 (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania)
·               Staff Sgt William J. Devenney (Radio Gunner)
          ID: 33367015 (Carbon County, Pennsylvania)
·               Sgt Jimmie Gyovai (Engineer Gunner)
          ID: 15337609(Boone County, West Virginia)
 
 
After all five casualties remains were recovered by  the US Army Graves Registration they  would have been taken to Wilton's Funeral Home, 255 Crumlin Road, Belfast. They were then embalmed, dressed in class A uniform and placed in an American style casket. Their funerals where held at Wilton's Funeral Chapel and then they were buried at Lisnabreeny American Military Cemetery, Rocky Road, Castlereagh, Belfast. They remained there until 1948 when the cemetery was decommissioned. Then they were exhumed and all except William Devenney were returned to the United States upon the request of their families.
William Devenney was reburied in the American War Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridge, England.

[MikeD]

Count me in.

[Dowser]

I like the sound of this too.  Lots going on at the mo though and I've used up my supply of permission slips.  I'll print some more today and see if I can get clearance from HQ.

[666_pack]

should be good craic and something a bit more random.

[suspectmonkey]

I'm in

[SAMD]

That must be the plane we 'found' when we were kids. We had a caravan at 'Bonny's' and I well remember, sometime in the mid '60s a bunch of us kids deciding to go on an adventure one day during the holidays and we took pack lunches and went to find 'the plane that crashed during the war'. I didn't know what sort of plane it was, I thought it was a German one actually. But I do know I found about 100 rounds of ammo. The rounds had bottleneck cases and I think were 303 calibre. Which I couldn't understand if it was a German plane. Its possible my Bro. still has some of it. A lot of it was badly corroded but some of it was reasonable. I wonder if this plane was fitted up with British weapons, or if the Americans used ammo that was a common size with the British? I presume I was just lucky to find it because I just kicked a sod and out from under it came this pile of bullets!

[Chuck]

I'm in as well. (wonder if I'd be able to dump the car in the Bloody Bridge Cap site car park)

ps. Anyone 'found' the crash site just up from the Ice House in the Glen Valley? Big gash in the hill side and lots of twisted metal w/ signs of extreme heat.

[J]

Thats a new one on me. We could check it out at the weekend. Do you have any other info?

I'm in as well. (wonder if I'd be able to dump the car in the Bloody Bridge Cap site car park)

ps. Anyone 'found' the crash site just up from the Ice House in the Glen Valley? Big gash in the hill side and lots of twisted metal w/ signs of extreme heat.

[Chuck]

Attached map-ish. When I was last there in last winter the area, unlike the surrounding hill, had no heather, no bracken, just a rough flat bit of what looked like grassy bog patch...but it wasn't boggy. Rock in the area with lots of smaller bit of metal stacked on it. Can't find any online info about it.

[SAMD]

Yup, thats where I remembered it too, although I had a quick wander around that area last year one day and didn't find anything. A metal detector would be useful if someone had one. Or is that a bit too anoraky 

[jimi r]

Guys
I came across this posting while researching the very crash that you mention and I can help with your search for the Chimney Rock airplane crash. I put together the website www.chimneyrockb26crash.com mentioned by J . The plane that crashed on the 10th April 1944 was an USAF B26 Marauder Medium bomber. All five of the crew died in the accident. If you’re looking for a crash site you're going to be disappointed. There is virtually nothing left of the plane apart from a few small pieces of alloy scatttered across the mountain and some rusty pieces of engine mount and other small objects at grid ref. 362 255. The remains of the aircraft have been removed by air force salvage squads, the Ulster Aviation Society and souvenir hunters over the years. The 303 ammo found doesn’t come from the plane it carried only .50 calibre machine guns.
The other crash mentioned is at the foot of Thomas Mounatain in the Glen River valley. That plane was a Wellington Bomber Serial No. X3599. It crashed on the 16th March 1942 while flying from Feltwell, Norfolk to Aldergrove. Six died in the crash the rear gunner survived. One of the dead was Section Officer Barbara Blakiston-Houston a local girl from Killyleagh. She is buried in Loughinisland (St John) Church Of Ireland, Seaforde, first grave on the left. The Ulster Aviation Society recovered the engines that use to lie at the site of the crash in the 1980's.
Hope this helps
Jimi r

[Tim]

I'm up for it.

[chris]

Should be sweet for this one too, hopefully have some shiny new gear to play with!!

[SAMD]

Yes it was at that second site that I found the 303 stuff, so it was a Wellington bomber it came from? well there you go. I seem to remember one of the kids found most of a leather helmet, or maybe it was goggles with the glass missing, something like that anyway. There had been broken bits of cockpit and fuselage frame, a couple of busted up seat frames, stuff like that still there, bits of engines etc. I dont remember any wings, although IIRC the Wellington was mainly fabric so it would have dissappeared in a few years.