Skua L2967 (or L2929 or L2629) near High Bentham, Settle.
On 12th September 1940 this aircraft was being ferried to Donibristle, Fife from 10 M.U at Hullavington, Wiltshire and was being flown up the western side of the Pennines, via Sealand. The pilot was a No4. Ferry Pilot Pool airman. It would appear that a common route used to ferry aircraft up and down the country was up the western side of the Pennines which meant the aircraft were kept away from the busier eastern side with the active airfields and ground defence positions. A route used by ferry pilots seems to be to use the corridor of slightly lower ground between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. While flying between Sealand and Silloth the weather became poor and cloud covered the hills, the pilot opted wisely to climb and turn the aircraft around to head south where the weather was better. While flying in cloud at a safe height the engine began to overheat and then fail. Being over high ground the pilot did not believe that a forced landing with a failing engine was the safe option so he abandoned the aircraft at 13.30hrs. The aircraft crashed onto high ground on Burn Moor, near Keasdon, to the south of High Bentham, close to the Yorkshire / Lancashire border. The pilot sustained a broken hip in a bad landing and was admitted to Morecambe hospital.
The crash site has been dug in the years since the War and a number of its larger items recovered, these included the engine and an undercarriage leg.
Pilot - F/O Donald Roy Strachan RAF (41221). Injured, broken hip.
Skua L2967 is one aircraft that's history is open-ended and it could be because it had been destroyed well before the paperwork caught up. It was built by the Blackburn Aicraft co.Ltd. and was delivered to 10 MU at Hullavington on 10th June 1939. It was officially taken on charge by the Fleet Air Arm on 7th October 1939 but appears to have remained in storage at 10 MU. It then does not appear to have ever served with any unit and has no struck off charge date but is listed as being "PD" on 31st July 1941. "PD" refers to Papers Deposited and applied to aircraft that had no known struck off charge date. L2967 fits for the crash on 12th September 1940 by the ATA going unrecorded for many months and a "PD" being made the following year.
In previous accounts the aircraft at High Bentham has been referred to as L2629, L2829 and L3929. The National Archives hold an AIR81 file for this incident and on that the identity of the aircraft is given as 2629.
To fully document this aircraft's history is difficult as historical Fleet Air Arm records are poor, what is written below is given in good faith but I am open to other suggestions. Skua L2929 is the identity of the aircraft widely given, Skua L2929 was built to contract 534298/36 by the Blackburn Aircraft Co.Ltd. at Brough and was ready for collection in in January 1939. It was delivered to 5 MU at Kemble on 28th April 1939, at this time the FAA aircraft were all on RAF charge. On 24th May 1939 all FAA aircraft were transferred to Navy charge. Here it's history is sketchy, it may have been heading to join 801 Squadron at the time of this loss near Settle. 801 Squadron's land base was Donibristle (which explains why it it was heading there). In September 1940 801 Squadron's Skuas were embarked onto HMS Furious for raids off the North Norwegian coast. Skua L2929 is also recorded elsewhere as being shot down off the Norwegian coast on 2nd October 1940.