de Havilland Queen Bee V4793 from No.1 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit crashed on Clogwyn Du’r Arddu, Snowdon, on the 24th February 1942
The de Havilland Queen Bee was a modification of the Tiger Moth bi-plane trainer, it was intended to be used a remotely operated target aircraft. The main modifications were the replacement of the tubular steel steel fuselage with a wooden design similar to those in the Moth and the rear cockpit was fitted out with a radio receiver connected to various solenoids which operated compressed air valves. The compressed air was used to operate the flying controls. The front cockpit was built with a full set of flying controls and instruments for use by a pilot when any testing or ferrying was required.
During the mid-afternoon of the 24th February 1942 V4793 was launched on what was to be its final flight from Bodorgan on Anglesey, it would have been controlled from a unit similar to that shown below, but immediately from take off the aircraft failed to respond to any control signals and flew away from the air station towards the mountains of Snowdonia.
After a short while to wayward target flew into Snowdon where it was wrecked and destroyed by fire. The crash was seen from the valley below, as unlike most of the other crashes it occurred during the day in good visibility. A rescue party immediately set out only to discover on arrival that there was no pilot in the wreck.
Today the site remains much as it had been described in the 1970s when it was re-discovered with burnt pieces of aluminium, timber and steel undercarriage and inter-wing struts littering the scree.