Originally Posted by
Cows getting bigger
A sad day for 18 Sqn. Phil was my neighbour in the Mess and Jim was one of those positively infectious characters. Not long before, he had waltzed into the bar having just walked away from a pretty nasty wire strike near Paderborn; "That's my one brush with death."
The memories fade but I recollect that the flying display crew (ZA 672 was for static) witnessed the whole event from their dispersal. There was some fantastic leadership from the aircraft commander, corralling all 18 Sqn personnel and bring them back home that same evening.
Looking back, the accident was undoubtedly avoidable and continues to provide an excellent lesson in Swiss Cheese.
http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/m...0506_za672.pdf
I did see the wirestrike aircraft as was meant to be on the Cat 3 team from 431 that came up to Gutesloh to reskin the airframe as it had huge gashes on one side. I also saw the Hanover hull on its recovery to Bruggen. I had heard at the time one aircrew killed in the latter had been flying the former. Had a UH60 out in Basrah that had a rotor strike against one of the lightning stanchions during my time there. We were picking up bits of carbon for days afterwards. The crew had declined RAF marshallers. They were not given the opportunity next time they requested to come in. That was interesting having 3 to handle by myself.