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

de Havilland Queen Bee
de Havilland Queen Bee at the de Havilland Museum, London Colney.

 

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.

de Havilland Queen Bee Remote Control unit
Queen Bee radio control unit.

 

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.

Wreckage at the crash site of de Havilland Queen Bee V4793 on Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, Snowdon
Above it some of the burnt aluminium debris with some small pieces of wood also visible.
Wreckage at the crash site of de Havilland Queen Bee V4793 on Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, Snowdon
This is one of the larger steel struts at the site.
Gipsy Major engine at the crash site of de Havilland Queen Bee V4793 on Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, Snowdon
The single largest item at the site is this, the aircraft de Havilland Gipsy Major Mk.I engine.