Date:	Wednesday 10 December 1941
Time:
Type:	Blackburn Botha Mk I
Owner/operator:	6 FPP ATA
Registration:	W5103
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Round Hill, Bleaklow, 5 miles northeast of Glossop, Derbyshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	RAF Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hawarden, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales

Narrative:
On 10 December 1941 1st Officer Thomas Williams Rogers of 6 FPP (Ferry Pilots Pool), Air Transport Auxiliary, was ferrying the brand new Botha I W5103 from Blackburn’s factory at Sherburn-in-Elmet near Leeds, to 48 Maintainence Unit (48 MU) RAF Hawarden, near Chester.

The exact cause of the crash is unknown, the official report suggesting First Officer Rogers had encountered cloud and flew on, trying to maintain visual contact with the ground. The pilot was attempting to fly above the cloud which covered the hills and it is thought he was descending thinking that he had cleared the hills but a head wind may have slowed his progress and therefore meant he was still over the hills as he descended. The aircraft struck the moorland on Round Hill, Bleaklow, 5 miles northeast of Glossop. The pilot was killed and the aircraft was destroyed.

The pilot's body wasn't discovered until 3 days later, buried in the mud beneath the burnt-out aircraft.

Crew:
First Officer Thomas Williams Rogers, Pilot, Air Transport Auxiliary - killed on active service 10 December 1941,buried at St Michael's Churchyard, Myddfai, Carmarthenshire

Two large wing sections remain on site with a plethora of smaller fragments surrounding them and scattered in a number of grooves which radiate out from the hill top crash site

Thomas Rogers was an amateur jockey as a young man and had also initially served in the RAF as an LAC Cadet between September 1939 and September 1940 but had failed a night flying test so his RAF piloting was suspended (although he had accumulated 168 flying hours in Airspeed Oxfords). He was just nineteen years old and is buried at Myddfai Churchyard, Myddfai, Carmarthen.

1. Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks 1 By Ron Collier & Roni Wilkinson pp.21-26
2. Aircraft Wrecks: A Walker's Guide: Historic Crash Sites on the Moors and Mountains of the British Isles By Alan Clark, Nick Wotherspoon, Mark Sheldon
3. http://www.raf-lichfield.co.uk/ATA%20Casualties.htm
4. http://peakwreckhunters.blogspot.com/2008/08/blackburn-botha-w5103-raf.html
5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/maycontaintracesofnuts/3034943765/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2965445/thomas-william-rogers/
7. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/peak-district/blackburn-botha-w5103-round-hill/
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleaklow_Bomber#Other_Bleaklow_air_crashes
9. https://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/blackburn-botha-w5103-on-bleaklow-peak-district-2/
10. https://www.ata-ferry-pilots.org/index.php/category-blog-1940/310-rogers-thomas-william[biography of pilot]
11. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=W5103
12. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/blackburn-botha-w5103-crashed-round-hill-10th-december-1941-grid-ref-sk-11077-97532-ge-53474404-1834581--393924298628819320/
13. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-blackburn-b-26-botha-i-mt-bleaklow-1-killed
14. https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1RKWC_botha-w5103?guid=c6bbe5b0-0f7b-4662-b99a-86fa12150e5a
15. https://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.com/2010/06/blackburn-botha-w5103-round-hill-black.html
16. https://thewanderingwildflower.co.uk/middle-black-clough-bleaklow-stones/
17. https://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/blackburnbotha/interesting/
18. https://mountainboxer01.blogspot.com/2012/07/peak-district-round-hill-crash-sites.html
19. https://ww1.wales/carmarthenshire-memorials/myddfai-war-memorial/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Feb-2013 05:58	PKM	Added
23-Mar-2013 00:33	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Aug-2013 19:13	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
19-Aug-2014 02:48	angels one five	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Dec-2015 17:14	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Source, Narrative]
09-Nov-2018 17:20	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
19-Nov-2018 20:35	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]