It was a training mission- I have no idea why they were on approach to that base- unless they were training on approaches using the GTR - which was still in a testing phase, actually. Sweet was behind in check hours and should not have been in that aircraft- which he, incidentally- was cussing over and calling a piece of crap the evening before at dinner. I am his younger daughter. We got a lot of contradictory info, including weather was a factor- then it wasn't. I'd like to find a good attorney to take on a lawsuit against USAF and Lockheed- which bought out Gen Dynamics. Some Australian AF mechanics have given me info on the wing sweep actuators being prone to freezing up after high altitude runs- that had to be fixed.
Once upon a time a lawyer for Lockheed made an unfortunate statement "It's cheaper to pay off the families than fix the planes.."
I'd like to make him eat those words
Originally Posted by
MJSC
Hello all,
This accident occurred close to where I live. Whilst idly browsing the web I only discovered this incident today. I run and cycle past the area for decades now and thus I am familiar with the landscape in the immediate area.
The F111-E struck a hillside in the Sidlaw Hills south of Coupar Angus 18 th January 1972
I have discovered useful links to the incident at the Aviation Safety Network and the raf upper heyford link is very useful as it shows 10 or so well composed pictures of the locus
Years ago, going back to the 1980-90's the area in which the incident occurred would host all sorts of low flying aircraft... hardly any now.
I appreciate the incident was more than 40 years ago so memories will be hard to come by. I am interested though in further information and eye witness reports on the crash and recovery.
I hold no expertise in this area and would like to view some opinions on points of interest to me, such as -
I understand the aircraft was en route to RAF Leuchars as opposed to the F-111's home airfield... why would an F-111 be heading to an RAF base I think hosting Phantoms/Lightnings ? To refuel ? A break for the crew ?
The pics show the aircraft heavily damaged but largely intact - I might have thought the aircraft would have broken into many pieces - what can be taken from this fact ?
I thought this type of aircraft had TFR - was TFR turned off or non-operational ? Or is that a simplistic assumption ?
Seeing the area now it is hard to square that such a violent event actually happened but that is life for you.
Many thanks for reading and your response