FOR more than half a century it remained hidden underground.

Now a man has unlocked the secret of the missing piece of a famous plane which crashed on the moors above Glossop.

The B29 Superfortress, nicknamed Over Exposed as a tribute to its photo-reconnaissance work during the war, crashed at Higher Shelf Stones near Glossop on 3 November, 1948 killing all 13 people on board.

A gun turret, hidden by schoolchildren at the time, has now been discovered after one of the pupils finally came clean.

Peter Jozefczyk, of Glossop Mountain Rescue Team, is an aircraft enthusiast who arranges the annual remembrance service for those who died. He spent three days pinpointing the turret’s exact location before the team effort to finally unearth it on Sunday.

He said: "Three years ago a man went into Glossop Heritage Centre to say that he had hidden this piece of wreckage as a young boy. He couldn’t carry it, but when he went back he couldn’t find it. As someone with a keen interest in air crashes around the Dark Peak, I thought I would go and look for it."

While bits of wreckage are still scattered across the moors, Peter had to call on his rescue experience to trace the turret which had sunk into a bog.

The 42 year old added: "I only knew that it was within White Clough which is quite a big area — I wasn’t confident of finding it at all. It was just a case of close searching, like we do when we’re looking for people, and when I found it I was quite euphoric."

Over Exposed — the same type of plane used to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — crashed on a routine flight to the United States Air Force base at Burtonwood near Warrington. It is thought to have crashed while descending through cloud.

The prized piece will now form part of a special 60th anniversary exhibition at Glossop Heritage Centre.

Peter Jackson, another mountain rescuer who also volunteers at the Henry Street centre, said: "The pilot’s daughter came over for the 50th anniversary and she is hoping to come over this year for the 60th. There is still a lot of interest around the crash and this is a great way to mark the occasion."