A collection of walks, discoveries, insights and pictures of exploring Dartmoor National Park
February 23, 2025
Huntingdon Warren Aircrash – America Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota)
Just 5 months after the end of World War Two, on Saturday 13th October 1945, an American Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) took off from Erding (around 50km from Munich) on a routine flight carrying a crew of three, four passengers and mail as part of ferrying service for personnel and equipment to the United States via the United Kingdom. Erding was a former Luftwaffe pilot training base and was part of the 9th Army Air Force (484th Air Service Group Command). The destination of the flight was RAF Exeter, so the puzzle is how did it unfortunately come to grief at Huntingdon Warren, west of Buckfastleigh?
Having taken off just after midday from Erding, the final tragic hours of flight 42-100640 were caused by poor weather over Devon and human error by flight contol in Exeter. The pilot (Lt Mara) was told that the flight would have to be diverted to Westernzoyland, near Bridgwater in Somerset as landing at RAF Exeter was not possible. Tragically, the course Lt Mara was told to take was 235 deg (which was 180 deg incorrect, as the course should have been around 55 deg). The incorrect course, which no one on the flight questioned, lead the flight straight towards the hills and tors of southern Dartmoor. The result was that around 1610 on that fateful day, the flight crashed in thick mist into the hillside at Huntingdon Warren Farm, coming partly to grief in the top field wall. Sadly all on board the flight perished. As a result of the crash all flights of the 484th Air Service Group Command were ordered to double check information received from ground stations
This reflective post records the tragic events of the aircrash from October 1945 and includes a visit to a memorial cross placed close by in 1985 as a tribute to those who had lost their lives. The post also records some history and other features of farm and the immediate area.
Bibliography
Graham Lewis – 2016 – Wings over Dartmoor (Military Aircraft Crashes on Dartmoor 1939-1966) – Pages 159-161)
Annotated map of the area, showing the approx. course of the flight and the location of a small memorial cross, which was placed on a large boulder to the south west of the Warren House in 1985In Europe, the C-47 was used in vast numbers in the later stages of the war, particularly to tow gliders and to drop paratroops. More than 50,000 paratroops were dropped by C-47s during the first few days of the D-Day campaign in June 1944. About 2,000 C-47s in British and Commonwealth service were know as the Dakota possibly inspired by the acronym “DACoTA” for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft. The photograph of the Dakota above shows “invasion stripes” on her wings and fuselageThe approx direction the Dakota would have taken in the final moments of the flight at around 1610 on 13th October 1945. The Dakota must have been descending at this point as it would most likely have passed over the saddle between Snowdon and Pupers Hill at around 480m above sea level and Huntingdon Warren Farm lies at around 420m above sea level.Five impost granite clapper over the Western Wella Brook a few hundred metres from the northern walls of Huntingdon WarrenThe ford across the Western Wella Brook just a few metres upstream from the clapper. The walls and the sycamore of Huntingdon Warren Farm beyondSplit stone near the Western Walla Brook. Beyond is the northern wall of the farm where the Dakota is thought may have been come to rest. Heading out to the south west of the farm in search of the memorial cross, which can be found on a very large boulderThe large boulder with the memorial cross, which was made in school by Brett Sutherland in 1985 and was placed here with help by his father as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the crash. The author first visited the cross around a year after it was placed here. The ‘Crosses of Dartmoor’ website records the following: “The metal plaque measures 2.75 inches (69mm) tall, 2.25 inches (57mm) wide and 0.5 inches (12.5 mm) deep. The actual cross is 2 inches (50 mm) tall, 1.5 inches (35mm) across the arms and the width of the shaft is 0.25 inches (5 mm)”.The Dakota pilot was Lt Richard Mara, with 2nd Lt Francis McCutchin as co-pilot and T/Sgt Melvin Kack was the Flight Engineer. The passengers were Lt Col Clifford Rassmussen, Pvt Victor Whiting, Pfc Ralph Flower and Pfc Dominick Klapps. The author always pays respects to those who perished whenever he visits the cross, which is located at SX66416 66794. Apart from Pfc Ralph Flower, all were re-patriated to the United States. RIP gentlemen.Huntingdon Warren Farm with its conspicuous sycamore tree. The farmhouse was occupied (since 1942) ‘unofficially’ by a Frederick William Symes, who is described by Hemery in High Dartmoor as: “retired schoolmaster, individualist, hermit by nature”. Symes adopted the appellation of ‘MooRoaMan’. There were no witnesses to the crash, so one assumes MooRoaMan wasn’t at the farm at the time. Some locals did state they heard the sound of an aircraft flying low over the moor. The wreckage was found the day after the crash on Sunday 14th October 1945.MooRoaMan lived in two rooms of the warren house, one up and one down. He would conduct a bi-weekly shop to Buckfastleigh, a 12 mile round trip and stayed here in this spartan existence until 1956 when he moved to lodgings in Buckfastleigh – he passed away in 1961. Hemery recalls him with much affection, saying: “He made the thickest, brownest tea of anyone I knew”.It is said that MooRoaman used parts of the debris from the aircraft to decorate his living room at the farm. The farmhouse was burnt down on the 2nd Sunday in August 1956 by Naval Cadets who were staying here and who lit a too ample a fire in the upstairs room. The farm was demolished using explosives in 1961. Some farming debris can still be found amongst the ruins at the farmClose up of the cogged machinery left at the farm. One assumes this is at least 100 years oldAnother angle of the rusting farm machineryIron gate hanger at the farmWith a closer inspection, more metal work can be found in granite wallsHuntingdon Warren, as the name suggests was synonymous with rabbit breeding. The warren comprises 700+ acres being bounded on three sides by the River Avon (West and South) and Western Wella Brook (East). At the centre of the Warren is the dome shaped Huntingdon Hill topped by a cairn known as the Heap of Sinners. The first mention of Huntingdon was in the 15th century and the site is believed to have had a longhouse during the 17th century. At the start of the 19th century, the warren came into its own when Thomas Michelmore took on a lease from the duchy (1806). The warren is believed to contain around 116 buries (pillow mounds) and at least 4 vermin traps, Gateway within the enclosure near the farmhouse and the inside of the north wall where the Dakota may have passed through. In the ‘Wings over Dartmoor’ book, it is recorded that their were bundles of English banknotes amongst the wreckage stated by police in attendance as being counterfeit. The line of shafts in the picture on the opposite hillside are those from Huntingdon MineAn unusual upright with four iron ringsOn a visit to the farm in February 2025, the author spend a good 10 minutes observing this bird of prey hovering in the wind and occasionally swooping down (but without landing)This sketch was produced by Philip Guy Stevens around 1905 of the farm. This sketch can be found in Crossings ‘Guide to Dartmoor’ on page 366. The sketch, however, does have an error in its title – the view is looking north west not south west (SW). It is interesting to note the tree in the picture and the relative size of the farmhouse (albeit there is some artistic licence here)Modern day view at the approx location where Stevens made his sketch.
