Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 of the 10th Depot Repair Squadron, 10th Air Depot Group USAAF, crashed on Shining Tor on the 29th September 1944

 

Arnold Fredrickson 2nd Lieutenant Pilot OK

 

On the 29th September 1944 2nd Lt Fredrickson was tasked with a liaison flight from Burtonwood near Warrington to RAF Winthorpe near Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire and back.  He had left Burtonwood at roughly 13:45 and took some 45 minutes to cover the 80 miles to Newark, having spent 1.5 hours at Newark 2nd Lt Fredrickson set off for the return leg back to Burtonwood.  Outbound he had encountered low cloud over the hills for about 5 minutes, however conditions had worsened by the time he returned.  Once airborne he encountered a strong headwind and as such expected the flight to take longer than outbound, after flying for an hour he assumed he was more than likely beyond the hills and descended.  While still in cloud Fredrickson spotted ground just beneath him and shortly after struck rising ground.  The aircraft turned over and caught fire though Arnold Fredrickson was able to escape the aircraft before the fire had taken hold.

He made his way off the hill to Stake Farm where according to local legend he arrived clutching a piece of the aircraft the aircraft, when asked what it was for he replied, its to fend off the coyotes.

Crash site of Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 on Shining Tor, Derbyshire
For many years the scar seen above was believed to be the crash site of Defiant T3921 however a number of items recovered from here in the 1980s pointed to the aircraft being of Noorduyn origin.
We carried out a closer inspection of the site during 2005 and discovered a Yale type lock that had been made in the USA by the lock manufacturer Corbin Russwin along with an alloy part bearing a Noorduyn inspection stamp, thus proving beyond all reasonable doubt that this is the crash site of 43-35439. However despite this evidence a recent publication has insisted that this site is that of Defiant T3921, such incorrect assertions in books have proved very hard to put right though in this case the physical evidence from the site is clear.
Wreckage found at the crash site of Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 on Shining Tor, Derbyshire
Above is a photograph of the part found at the site with the Noorduyn inspection stamp. Image copyright: Mark Sheldon.
Wreckage found at the crash site of Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 on Shining Tor, Derbyshire
Above is one of the items found during the 1980s by members of the Macclesfield Historical Aviation Society, though hard to see the part has a Noorduyn inspection stamp.
Wreckage found at the crash site of Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 on Shining Tor, Derbyshire
Also found by members of MHAS was a spark plug, this is shown on the right of this image, the left hand spark plug came from a Merlin engine as used by the Defiant. The difference between the two types of plug are clear. The thread at the engine end (bottom) is the same outside diameter but on the right hand plug is shorter. The overall length and diameter of the plug from Shining Tor is slightly shorter than a standard Merlin spark plug.
Ditch near the crash site of Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman 43-35439 on Shining Tor, Derbyshire, where wreckage was dumped
Prior to us proving that the scar thought to have been caused by Defiant T3921 was in fact the crash site of 43-35439 this spot beside the footpath onto Shining Tor was thought to be where the aircraft had crashed. Parts of the aircraft exhaust system had been found in the culvert in the 80’s, it seem likely that these were taken from the crash site and discarded here at the time of the crash.