Shown to Max Piper by Paul Rendell in December 2022, and known to other Dartmoor explorers, this boulder beside the track is special because it contains an extant tare; it was never split.
Acknowledgement: Close up of the in situ tare photographed by Steve Grigg.
Notes: This is a very rough NGR “guesstimate” for the location of a WWII German Junkers 88 aircrash. I have based the siting of this location by analysing a number of photos of the crash site taken at the time (RJN).
Further Information: An incident that resulted in the deaths of four young German airmen occurred on the slopes bordering Burrator Reservoir during WWII. At 21.50hrs, on the evening of the 18th of May 1941, four JU88A-5 (Junkers) aircraft took off from Lannion airfield France, being part of 1/KUF 606 ( A German Coastal Squadron). Their objective was to attack shipping off of the north/ west coast of Ireland. It is assumed that it was on their return journey that disaster happened. The JU88A crossed Dartmoor in the early hours of the 19th of May and at 02.36hrs she struck Leather Tor, tearing off both propellors and the gondola on the underside of the fuselage. The aircraft eventually crashed and burst into flames with the loss of her four crew. The aircraft burnt out almost completely with the largest recognisable piece left being the tail in which one .303 bullet strike was identified.
Plymouth was suffering raids from the Luftwaffe during April, so crossing so close to Plymouth must have been a brave decision, but according to records no RAF fighter aircraft were known to be in the area, so the cause of the crash remained unknown. In the days after the crash the remains of the crew were removed, after which they were buried in the Sheepstor Church Yard. Since then they have been re-interned in the German Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Stafford.
The four crew members were : Ff: Uffz Paul Nowacki, Bo: Obltn zurSee Gunther Hitschfeld, Bf: Uffz Joachim Kasten and Bm: Uffz Hans Knor.
Nev Cole (via Facebook) credits Darroll Jago and Local Author Graham Lewis for some of the above information.
Acknowledgements:
Nev Cole, via Facebook
RAF Harrowbeer, Archives, Education and Heritage Centre, Knightstone Tearooms, Crapstone Road, Yelverton, PL20 6BT
https://rafharrowbeer-dartmoor.org.uk/about-us
‘Wings Over Dartmoor (Military Air Crashes 1939-1960)’ by Graham Lewis is available from the Archives (Knightstone Tearooms).