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Stolen military aircraft

Continued from the Lightning thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double Zero

There are the other stories which circulate, such as the American loadmaster who took a C-130 headed for East Germany ( & failed to reach it courtesy of a Lightning ) & the groundcrew ( Belgian ? ) chap who pinched an F-16 for a spectacular suicide... Even had a threat to steal a Harrier or Hawk at our place once, which was rather robustly dealt with by a certain Mr. J.F; he was intelligent enough to warn us all, which I doubt others would have done.

During my time fixing USMC A-6E intruders at MCAS El Toro, Ca, an A-4M was stolen by a Lance Corporal... and returned safely (July 4, 1986)!

LCpl Foote was an Avionics tech, and was also an accomplished private pilot and high altitude glider pilot. Unfortunately he liked to soar the gliders to very high altitudes (one flight a world record for a 17-year-old), and on one flight he got an embolism in one of his arms, which disqualified him from ever becoming a pilot as far
as the USMC was concerned. [LCpl Foote was disqualified from flight training for more than just the embolism issue.]

LCpl Foote worked on the transient aircraft line as a plane captain (and was qualified to taxi aircraft under power), and had gotten several senior officers to give him time in the simulators while preparing his (rejected) application for commissioning and flight training. He worked night crew and decided to prove to the Marine Corps that he could indeed fly and that any other physical issues were non-factors.

Foote took the A4 Skyhawk from the flight line at MCAS El
Toro (I forget the particular squadron) and was on his way to March AFB. In route the aircraft lost the electrical generator and he was forced to deploy the RAT and return to MCAS El Toro.

Foote had to circle the air station until the MPs were able to have
the airfield light turned on so that he could land, as it was a holiday and the entire base was on stand-down from flight ops.

He did get a court martial, and was reduced in Rank and given a General Discharge as part of an agreement with the USMC.
(His own Commanding Officer and other senior officers, including the Wing Commanding General, asked the Court to NOT give him a Dishonorable Discharge due to his outstanding record - except for this one blemish).

Leniency Urged for Marine in Fighter Joy Ride Attorney Tells Hearing of El Toro Mechanic's Lifelong Dream of Being Jet Pilot

All Counts Dropped Against Marine for Jet Fighter Joy Ride

In 1969, a C130 crew chief at Mildenhall took 'his'aircraft after receiving a 'Dear John'letter from his wife. He headed west apparently intending to fly it to the US, but crashed in the English Channel somewhere off the Channel Islands. It appears that F100s were scrambled form Lakenheath to intercept him, as to whether they shot him down, it's not been proved.

If you a search on the Herky Bird Forum, you will a copy of the official USAF report.

He was indeed shot down by two USAF fighters.

Regards

Col Tigwell

I can certainly vouch for the techie who stole the F 16 whilst on deployment to somewhere snowy from Florennes. Whilst on the staff of TLP back in 89/90I nipped down to one of the BAF Sqns to "borrow" some maps to see on the board the words crashed beside one of the airframes. I asked the auth what had happened and he explained that they had finished the days flying and were having a beer in one of the HAS's when one of their ac taxied past. The "pilot" was a sooty and managed to get it ab only to fly into cloud and crash some 40 miles away!:sad:

Herc' V Lightning

I heard this, all sounding the same, from several different people from very different squadrons; by all accounts, as I heard it, the chap was heading straight East over the 'Iron Curtain' - otherwise no real reason to shoot him down in a hurry was there ?

So, the Lightning's only kill was some nut in a blue on blue - though frankly seems justified given the ramifications.

Possibly the Mig's shooting at transports within the Berlin corridor earlier was relevant, but I'm only guessing.

We had some US huey's visited Odius in the 70's and they bolted some hasp and clasps to the doors whilst visiting, saying it had come down from above after one of them went walkabout in the US and flew around washington for a while or so they lead us to believe.......

?

Quote:

Originally Posted by herkman

If you a search on the Herky Bird Forum, you will a copy of the official USAF report.

He was indeed shot down by two USAF fighters.

Regards

Col Tigwell

Have link? I searched but couldn't find it. Forum

Vung Tau, Christmas Eve 1969, a very drunk USAF ground crew decided it was time to go home and thought he could make it to KSFO in an O2 (Cessna 337).

He made it as far as the other end of the runway, taking out the threshold lights and quite a few runway lights on the way. Didn't see the bang, but saw the aftermath.

You are missing the best one of all. A mechanic stole a four engined B.45 Tornado from possibly Alconbury?? or maybe Lakenheath. Got airborne, but didn't get too far before it became a smoking hole. Cannot give you the year though, but it most definately happened. Not often someone steals a four jet bomber.!!!

Some time in the 50s an RAF Cpl nicked a Varsity from , I think, Thorney Island. Crashed in northern France IIRC.

Did'nt the pinched Huey land in the White House grounds?

Sorry for delay, very slack of me, must be too much Christmas cheer, or come to think of it, how can you have too much Xmas cheer.

The C130 forum called herkyBirds is found at

www.herkybirds.com

Search on shot down C130 and it will lead to as much of the story as was released.

Regards

Col

Hmmmm....I signed up for the website and searched as directed but nothing is coming up. Also, I can't go to the forums so maybe the website is down. I'll search again later.

Thanks for the info. :ok: This topic has always held interest for me ever since hearing about the shoot down of a B-52 near the Canadian border and a similar shootdown of a Navy A-6 after the crew ejected during launch. Both were during the Viet Nam war.

I was aboard ship when my crewmen rescued two Air Force pilots in the Aegean after one of our F-14's shot down their F-4.

Quote:

shoot down of a B-52 near the Canadian border

Is that what you meant to write? Any more info?

Stolen Aircraft - 3 May 1919

Just read about a very early theft. Lt Edwin Arnold Clear MC took off from Shotwick near Chester on 3 May 1919. He was awaiting trial on a charge of 'conduct to the prejudice etc' following low flying under a bridge a few weeks earlier. Whilst exercising, he gave his escort the slip, nabbed an SE5, took off and headed for Ireland. He got lost and landed on the Isle of Man. He found out where he was, took off and decided to impress the assembled crowd with some aerobatics. He suffered engine failure and crashed virtually on what is now Ronaldsway Airport but walked away with minor cuts and bruises. He was subsequently identified, re-arrested and removed back to Chester on 8 May. I've no idea of his subsequent fate!(Source: Steve Poole - 'Rough Landing or Fatal Flight')

Quote:

In June, 1958, another United States mechanic took off in a B45 bomber from Alconbury base, in Huntingdon, and this aircraft crashed on to the London-Edinburgh railway line.

From Hansard: UNITED STATES AIRCRAFT (UNAUTHORISED FLIGHT) (Hansard, 12 June 1969)

A B-52 was shot down over the US by a F-100 in the late 1950's / early 1960's during a PI, when an electrical fault caused a Sidewinder to be launched when the Super Sabre pilot pressed the trigger to operate the gun camera. However the incident happened over New Mexico if memory serves. I think 3 of the B-52 crew were killed. Edit - Info Shootdown: the death of the B-52 Ciudad Juarez The incident happened in 1961, and the Hun was from the New Mexico ANG. The fault with the launcher is thought to be the same as that on the F-14 which resulted in the shoot down of a USAFE RF-4C over the Med as stated above

I seem to remember an incident in the late 1940's when a Squadron Leader (?) from Marham (?) departed for Israel with a Mosquito (?) managing to refuel at various locations on the way. At the time there was a premium on any military equipment because of the emergence of the state of Israel. A lot of question marks in this one but time dims the details.

Friday the 13th June 1958 was a bad day for service aviation as this press cutting shows. The stolen B-45 Tornado incident is mentioned in para 2.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...thJune1958.jpg