Spitfire Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Johnny Tomorrow: Unable to get out and maintain

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Hidden : 1/22/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is a small camouflage bison container containing a log book only

This cache is a tribute to a little known episode in the history of this small village when a Spitfire on a training mission crash landed in the field adjacent to GZ

The Spitfire mark Vb, serial number BL585, was with 308 (City of Krackow) Squadron, a Polish squadron in the Royal Air Force then based at RAF Woodvale near Southport. It was engaged with another Spitfire from the same squadron practising fighting and the pilot thought he became unconscious because of an oxygen failure and did not remember jumping out. He was falling without his parachute being opened. He came to, and pulled the rip-cord and his 'chute opened, he was still very high over Hindley and he came down at a colliery in the Golborne area. The plane dove into a field not far from the Top-Lock and exploded, a lot of its parts were removed by a crash team from the RAF and the rest remained buried until Mark Gaskell from Orrell researched the site. He and his friends of the Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team dug them up in 2005.

The Polish pilot's name was Flying Officer Boleslaw Paley born on 14th September, 1915.

He was a member of the Polish Air Force from 1936 and was commissioned with the rank of Pilot Officer on the 1st September 1939 (The day Germany invaded Poland). He left Poland to carry on fighting the Germans from Romania, and then went to France to join the French Air Force, then he escaped from France to England to carry on his war against the Nazis as did thousands of his fellow countrymen.

Later, on the 7th June 1944 (6th June 1944 was D-Day) he had to abandon his Spitfire IX serial MJ310 after engine failure over the French town of Insigne, behind the invasion beaches and he remained a Prisoner of War until 7th May 1945. Flight Lieutenant Boleslaw Henryk Paley (Polish Cross of Valour), died 8th May 1996 in London.

Many thanks to WiganWorld for their permission to use this information in this listing. More information including pictures of wreckage recovered in a recent excavation can be found by following the link.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/crash.php

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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

N pnzbhsyntr ovfba pbagnvare haqre n zbff pbirerq fgbar.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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