A corner of Britain has been dubbed the UK's "Bermuda Triangle" over the number of plane crashes.
The lives of 50 people have been claimed in the patch over the Pennine moors in Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, where eight planes have plummeted from the skies over the past decades. While the Peak District provides one of the most stunning backdrops for walking in Britain, ramblers may stumble across sites with dark histories.
Crash sites from some of the disasters are eerily preserved, with hikers still able to see wreckage parts strewn across the rocks. The B-29 crash site near Glossop, Derbyshire, is littered with metal shrapnel from the Bleaklow Bomber disaster. The US Air Force aircraft plunged into the rocks at Higher Shelf Stones in November 1948, killing 13 people. It's thought the plane - which was being used to capture footage of nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll at the time - crashed due to poor vision and thick cloud at the time.
A wrecked engine from one of the famous Peak District bomber crash sites on top of Bleaklow, Derbyshire (Getty Images)Debris remains at the site, which has been eerily preserved with wooden crosses and a memorial plaque for the victims. Just a stone's throw from the site, hikers can also still view the graveyard of the C47 Skytrain Dakota which came down in July 1945 - metres from where a Lancaster KB993 had crashed a couple of months earlier - killing seven.
In just 17 years, scores people died in the area famous for its stunning moorland and dramatic scenery. But despite modern technological advancements, there's no scientific evidence to suggest any reason for the crashes other than the frequent torrential weather conditions and difficult to navigate terrain - as well as the high concentration of nearby airbases. Thankfully, there haven't been any crashes recorded in the area since 1956. The patch - around 20 miles from Manchester Airport - is generally considered a safe route.
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The B-29 wreckage remains at the site of its final destination (MEN MEDIA)However, the actual Bermuda Triangle remains one of the greatest mysteries in the world, blamed for dozens of plane crashes and shipping disasters over the past century. The 440,000 mile patch of the North Atlantic is one of the most heavily-travelled shipping lanes in the world, traversed by vessels travelling between major hubs in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean.
One of the most famous disasters was the collision of two US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, which smashed 300 miles west of Bermuda in August 1963. In December 1945, a group of five torpedo bombers mysteriously vanished over the ocean in a mystery known as 'Flight 19', resulting in the disappearance of 27 people. The phenomenon of the Triangle however didn't begin to capture public attention until the early 20th century, when the USS Cyclops - a 542ft long Navy cargo vessel with 300 people aboard - sand between Barbados and Chesapeake Bay.
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