Suggested books to
read - These are all books which I have myself so the list is not a complete one.
PEAK DISTRICT
DARK
PEAK AIRCRAFT WRECKS 1 - Ron Collier, Roni Wilkinson ISBN 0-85052-475-1
The first of the Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks books, which is well researched giving detailed accounts of the crashes covered with only minor errors. A couple of crash locations given are slightly out in terms of the Grid Ref.s, but close enough to find the sites without any real trouble.
DARK
PEAK AIRCRAFT WRECKS 2 - Ron Collier ISBN 0-85052-336-2
This second book completes coverage of the major crashes in the dark peak in the same format as Book 1. Sadly the planned follow up book(s) covering crashes in the White Peak has not been published.
CIRCULAR
WALKS TO PEAK DISTRICT AIRCRAFT WRECKS - John D. Mason ISBN 0-907496-94-6
A useful guide to help those new to wreck hunting in finding crash sites, although information on the crashes is limited to basic details. The only problem with this book is that the compass bearings given to crash sites in it gradually become less accurate with time due to the shifting of magnetic North and need to be corrected if you are traveling a long distance on the bearing.
WHITE
PEAK AIRCRAFT WRECKS WALKS - John N. Merrill ISBN 1-84173-000-9
The information in this guide is good enough as far as basic information about the aircraft and the crews are concerned but there are some glaring errors in terms of the crash locations, although the book only takes you as near to the sites as is possible on footpaths, most of the crash sites being on private land. For example you are taken within 20m of a crash site with a memorial, but this isn't mentioned, the feature of the walk being given as an aircraft half a mile off the route which is actually the site where two aircraft crashed!
A
MOORLANDS DEDICATION - Marshall S. Boylan ISBN 0-95205-580-5 -
This book is very hard to come by, it took me two weeks to track a copy down, that was in a local bookshop in Leek, Staffordshire. As a source of information on the crashes over a fairly large area around Leek this publication is very good with few errors most of which originate from the then know 'facts'. However finding the crash sites from the information given is not easy with only the place being stated.
Peakland Air Crashes - The South - Patrick J. Cunningham ISBN 1-84306-186-4
No comment.
While we are acknowledged in the back of this book the views expressed by the author are often at odds with our views, he has made little or no attempt to separate know fact from his opinion. In this particular book (which has apparently been aimed at walkers) almost all of the sites are on private land often with no footpaths running nearby and the level of accuracy attempted with grid references could lead anyone attempting to look for the aircraft astray, particularly where the author failed to find any proof as to the whereabouts of crashes. Though the grid reference errors are not on the scale of Air Crashes in the Lake District (see below). The title is somewhat misleading, as anyone who has come across the term Peakland before will associate it with the Peak District, the area covered by this book is largely to the south of the Peak District.
ALL UK AND IRELAND
HIGH
GROUND WRECKS AND RELICS - David J. Smith ISBN 1-85780-070-2
For the all round book covering the UK, this is as good as you are going to get, and while at a crash site Phil asked which of the books available was best for finding crash sites, and this was the answer, simply for the fact it gives the basic details with Grid Ref.s for hundreds of crashes all over the UK, and has only odd mistakes which appear to be typing errors in a few serial numbers and map refs which would not be spotted during editing. But those errors are very few and very far between.
HELL
ON HIGH GROUND - David W. Earl ISBN 1-85310-569-4
This book cover crashes on high ground across the UK and is well researched. Significantly the stories behind the crashes are given in detail and photographs of many of the crash sites are included along with Grid Ref.s. One hundred crash sites in ten different areas are covered.
HELL
ON HIGH GROUND VOLUME 2 - David W. Earl ISBN 1-84037-082-3
This book follows the same format of the authors previous work covering one hundred and ten crash sites in eleven different areas. A few corrections / additions to Vol. 1 are included in an appendix.
NO
LANDING PLACE - Edward Doylerush ISBN 0-904597-57-1
This the first book by the author is a useful guide to the wrecks around Snowdonia, being well researched and using a format which is different to any other author's approach. A dozen or so crashes are covered in much detail, and many others are covered briefly, but all major crashes in the area are listed in an appendix which gives the basic details of each. It can be a little frustrating as in the detailed accounts there is often no complete crew list given.
NO
LANDING PLACE VOLUME 2 - Edward Doylerush ISBN 1-85780-090-7
This fairly recent book essentially expands on the first book giving more photographs and background details, and is in a similar format. There are some more resent accidents, both civil and military covered in this publication. However no Grid Ref.s are given for the crash sites, but the photographs of some would enable you to locate them once you were in the right area.
FALLEN
EAGLES - Edward Doylerush ISBN 0-904597-66-0
The second book by the author covers crashes in Mid Wales using the same format as No Landing Place.
THE LEGEND OF LLANDWROG - Edward Doylerush ISBN 0-904597-88-1
This the third book by the author details the history of RAF Llandwrog airfield and the creation of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service there in WWII. Although not specifically about crashes the stories of many are included along with photographs of some crash sites, and the book is a good read for the aviation minded anyway.
DOWN
IN WALES - Terence R. Hill ISBN 0-86381-283-X
This book written in the early 1990s details visits to crash sites in central and northern Wales. The incidents are well researched with Grid Ref.s and photos included allowing most of the sites to be found easily.
DOWN
IN WALES 2 - Terence R. Hill ISBN 0-86381-401-8
This book written in the mid 1990s follows the same format of the author's previous work.
FINAL
DECENT - Terence R. Hill ISBN 0-85052-659-0
This the third book by the author follows a slightly different format to his previous works, but giving the same type of information about crashes in central and northern Wales and on the England / Wales border.
AIRCRAFT CRASH SITES - W. J. L. Roberts (for the Brecon Beacons National Park)
I couldn’t find an ISBN for this publication but it can be found on the Brecon Beacons National Park web site, in the publications list, and should be available from any of their visitor centres. It is essentially a small guide giving much basic information on many of the crashes in the Brecon Beacons National Park, includes Grid Ref.s.
ISLE OF MAN
ROUGH
LANDING OR FATAL FLIGHT - Steve Poole ISBN 1-901508-03
Plenty of information about crashes on and around the Isle of Man. There are no Grid Ref.s but that makes life interesting.
LAKE DISTRICT
AIR
CRASHES IN THE LAKE DISTRICT - Michael J. Hurst ISBN 1-85310-874-X
Got stuck on a mountain? Need something to start a fire with? Here’s a good candidate. The photos can be useful but that is about it for this book. Much of the information given is what was known in the 1970's and has not been corrected / updated since. In fact the book stops in 1975, despite being published in 1997, what's wrong with those 22 years? Perhaps though it is as well it stopped there though as there were too many mistakes already, particularly in terms of Grid Ref.s. Mark has wasted several hours due to this book searching for crash sites which turned out to be some distance away, and one of the aircraft detailed actually crashed several hundred miles away! Also since when has the Lake District included the North Pennines and Bewcastle Fells?