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On 29 November 1944, two Douglas A-26 Invader US bomber planes crashed into Warton Marsh, eight miles from Preston, in Lancashire. Both planes, along with a number of others, had left Warton Airbase in formation, en route to join forces in the preparations for the Battle of the Bulge, which took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. Only one minute off the runway and 1,000 feet into the air, the aircraft collided and came to rest in the marsh. All the crew died. Their bodies were recovered from the planes, but an investigation into the causes of the crash was inconclusive.
When the planes crashed back in 1944, they landed directly on sand. Since then, however, about two metres of silt has built up over the wrecks. It means that the site is a difficult one to excavate, and an earlier attempt to retrieve the aircraft in the 1980s was unsuccessful.
For this programme, Time Team enlisted a veteran air crash investigator, along with the RAF's 'crash and burn' team and other experts to try to find out what caused the crash. Each of the planes, including the engines, was believed to be relatively intact and, it was hoped, would provide the necessary information to determine why these two planes collided.
Local eyewitnesses and fellow flyers in the US Air Force were all called upon to help to build up a picture of what happened on that fateful day in 1944.
Time Trail.
This was not the first time that Time Team investigated the site of crashed Second-World-War aircraft. It did so first for the 1999 series, when the team visited Reedham Marshes in Norfolk – a site that had many similarities with the one at Warton Marsh.
In February 1944, two American Flying Fortress bombers crashed into each other on their way back from a bombing raid over Germany. One of the aircraft fell into in a marsh at Reedham – killing all 10 of the crew – and gradually became buried in the peat. The incident was forgotten until a group of aviation enthusiasts attempted to raise the 30-ton plane in the 1970s. Three decades later, their leader contacted Time Team. The excavation techniques required for this dig were like nothing the team had experienced before.
Those techniques were put to good use again the following year at Wierre-Effroy, near Boulogne in France. This time the site was that of one of the first Spitfire aircraft lost in France. The pilot, Paul Klipsch, aged 24, had never flown in a combat mission before. He is remembered as one of the 1,500 Royal Air Force pilots who gave their lives during the early period of the Second World War.
Time Team also ventured into the archaeology of the Second World War as part of the 60th-anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings. This took the team to Normandy to recreate the 'longest day' of the 1st Dorset Regiment, which landed on Gold Beach at 7.45am on 6 June 1944.
Test your knowledge with our quick quiz. You'll find all the answers by digging around in this week's pages and following our Time Trail for the Preston programme.
Whose permission is required to excavate military remains in the UK?
English Heritage
The local council
The Ministry of Defence
The US Air Force boasted that the A-26 Invader was 'as fast as a fighter'. How fast could it go?
303mph
355mph
505mph
In what month were the first A-26 Invaders delivered for service in Europe?
June 1944
November 1944
January 1945
In which of these conflicts did the A-26 Invader NOT see service?
The Falklands War
The Bay of Pigs invasion
The Vietnam war
'Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth/And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.' These are the first lines of the poem, 'High Flight', by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Junior, who was killed in action on 11 December 1941. For which country's air force was he a pilot?
Britain
The United States
Canada
Which Time Team expert, more usually called upon for his knowledge of an earlier era, is also an aviation archaeology expert?
Phil Harding
Francis Pryor
Guy de la Bédoyère
Answers here.
Time Team's surveyor, Henry Chapman, is used to dealing with masses of data gathered from his exhaustive surveys, but at Warton Marsh he was faced with a problem. The wetland is constantly changing and being eroded by the tide, and as a bog it can be difficult to travel across to carry out a full survey. A changing landscape and poor access couldn't stop our Henry, though.
'The problem is that a survey transcribed from aerial photographs some years ago is not really going to match up with the landscape as it is today,' he says. 'The bog land just changes so much.'
So how did he get his data? 'Simple, we called in an aircraft equipped with Lidar and had it done in a jiffy.'
Lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging, is a surveying system that uses a laser range finder to scan the ground and gather data. It's a bit like Henry's Electronic Distance Measuring theodolite (EDM), except that it's attached to an aircraft and can take many more measurements much more quickly.
'It's an amazing piece of kit,' continues Henry. 'Whereas I would measure single points one at a time with my EDM, the Lidar-carrying aircraft takes thousands of measurements every second as it flies low over the ground. Measurements are taken at two-metre intervals across a 600-metre swathe. The aircraft does several sweeps over the terrain and then produces this mass of data, which can be crunched down into an incredibly accurate 3DS topographical survey. It's great. It also means that I only have to plot the trenches and finds on this programme.'
In late 1944, the A-26 Invader was the latest development in American light twin-engined, attack-bomber technology. Built to replace the dependable A-20 Havoc, the A-26 was better armed, faster and had a longer range than its predecessor.
Despite the successful D-Day landings and Russian advances on the eastern front, by the autumn of 1944 allied troops were still bogged down in bitter fighting against the Nazis. As casualties continued to mount, any new hardware that might help to hasten the end of the war was quickly pressed into service. In this pressured environment Warton air depot, near Preston, became a hive of military activity, with well over 100 new A-26s being flown in for fitting and preparation for active service.
The young crews were also expected to learn quickly on the new equipment. The familiar A-20 was replaced with the technologically superior A-26 with its revolutionary new wing design and flying surfaces. The plane was one of the first aircraft to incorporate multiple retractable flaps in its wings to enable greater lift, just like a modern airliner. This technological marvel was a streamlined speed machine with an innovative compact design, a downside of which was that it resulted in less visibility for the pilot.
Vital statistics
Almost 2,500 of the A-26 Invader attack bombers were built altogether, the first of which were delivered to the US 9th Air Force in November 1944. The aircraft were powered by two 2,000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800-79 radial piston engines, with a maximum take-off weight of 35,000lb, including a payload of 12,630lb.
Eighteen feet high, with a length of just over 50 feet and a wing span of 70 feet, the A-26 could reach a maximum speed of 355 miles per hour – as fast as a fighter plane. It could fly at up to 22,000 feet and had a range of 1,400 miles.
The A-26 was equipped with six half-inch (12.7mm) machine guns in the nose, two half-inch machine guns in each ventral and dorsal turret, eight five-inch (127mm) rockets and 6,000lb of bombs.
In the UK the remains of all aircraft which have crashed whilst in military service (whether on land or sea) are protected by the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, under which 'it is an offence to tamper with, damage, move or unearth the remains unless the Secretary of State has issued a licence authorising those things to be done and that they are done in accordance with the conditions of the licence'. Application forms for licences and a copy of the Notes for Guidance of Recovery Groups can be obtained from:
PMA Cas 2
Bldg 182
Ministry of Defence
Royal Air Force
Innsworth
Gloucester GL3 1EZ
More informally the hobby also has a self-regulating body, the British Aviation Archeological Council (BAAC), which aims to 'maintain ethical standards of behaviour, coordinate activities and provide a forum for discussion' for member groups, although by no means all the active groups in the UK are members of this organisation. The BAAC may be contacted via:
BAAC Publicity Officer
Mr R Collis
8 Holly Road
Oulton Broad
Lowestoft
Suffolk NR32 3NH
E-mail: baac2@couplandbell.com
The information on this page wasÊprovided by theÊLancashire Aircraft Investigation Team, who worked with Time Team on the Warton Marsh excavation. Their website is at: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/index.htm.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Aviation archaeology in Britain by Guy de la Bédoyère (Shire Archaeology, 2001) paperback £4.99
During the Second World War an average of five aircraft crashed every day in the British Isles. This book, by Time Team regular Guy de la Bédoyère, is a wide-ranging introduction to the aircraft, the airfields, the documentary record and the memorials to the men and women who gave their lives in the air war.
The ultimate Time Team companion: An alternative history of Britain by Tim Taylor (Channel 4 Books, 1999) £20
The excavation of the Wierre-Effroy Spitfire, which featured in the 2000 series of Time Team, is covered at length in a special photo story in this Time Team book. Series producer Tim Taylor constructs a personal 'time line' – or mental map of the past – guiding readers through the history of Britain by way of more than 50 Time Team investigations.
Final Flights: Dramatic wartime incidents revealed by aviation archaeology by Ian McLachlan (Patrick Stephens, 1989) hardback £14.95
An account of the salvage of various aircraft crash sites in England by aircraft enthusiasts, as well as the stories behind the crashes. Although narrative sometimes triumphs over fact, everything is based on true stories that no fiction can match.
Foreign Invaders: The Douglas Invader in foreign military and US clandestine service by Dan Hagedorn and Leif Hellstrom (Midland Publishing, 1994) hardback £22.95.
Aviation archaeology: a collector's guide to aeronautical relics by Bruce Robertson. (Patrick Stephens, 2nd edition 1983, first published 1977).
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
There are large numbers of personal websites, of varying quality, that are dedicated in whole or in part to the A-26 Invader and the crews who flew in them. Most of these websites contain broadly similar information. Those listed below are only a small sample, giving an idea of the range of material that is available.
Warbird Alley
www.warbirdalley.com/a26.htm
Warbird Alley is a website dedicated to American warplanes. It contains both historical information and technical details about the aircraft that have seen service in the American armed forces, including the 'vital statistics' – weights, dimensions, armaments, performance and so on – for each plane. The above link takes you direct to the pages about the A-26 Invader.
Douglas A-26 Invader
www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/
baugher_us/a26i.html
Almost certainly the most comprehensive collection of information about the A-26 bomber on the web. This site tells more than most people would ever want to know about the history of the A-26 – from the development of the initial prototype, through its use in major and minor conflicts, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, to the civilian roles found for bombers 'retired' from military service.
A-26 World War II training film
www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/A-26.html
Watch the World War II training film for A-26 pilots that featured in the Time Team programme. This 16-minute film was used to familiarise pilots with the A-26 Invader. It includes flying tips about the special techniques needed at take-off and landing for a plane that was different to any other aircraft then in use by the US Air Force.
Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/index.htm
The Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team, together with members of RAF Millom Museum, worked with Time Team on the Warton Marsh excavation. Their website contains a great deal of information about this site and others in the Lancashire area, as well as about aviation archaeology in general.
Whose permission is required to excavate military remains in the UK?
The Ministry of Defence
The US Air Force boasted that the A-26 Invader was 'as fast as a fighter'. How fast could it go?
355mph
In what month were the first A-26 Invaders delivered for service in Europe?
November 1944
In which of these conflicts did the A-26 Invader NOT see service?
The Falklands War
'Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth/And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.' These are the first lines of the poem, 'High Flight', by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Junior, who was killed in action on 11 December 1941. For which country's air force was he a pilot?
Canada
Which Time Team expert, more usually called upon for his knowledge of an earlier era, is also an aviation archaeology expert?
Guy de la Bédoyère
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