Thought I might re-awaken this thread with the following:
In September 1956, a crew chief sergeant in the Royal Norwegian Air Force decided to "borrow" one of RNAF 718 Sqdn's T-33s. He had no previous flight experience, but had carefully studied all the Lockheed manuals and planned the flight meticulously - it was the day after his 21st birthday.
The incident took place at Sola Airbase outside Stavanger, Norway. When it was shortly discovered that this was an unauthorized flight, all he*l broke loose at Sola - a SAS DC-6 loaded with PAX was de-boarded, F-84s and other T-33s already airborne were vectored to escort the miscreant back to base.
Several attempts at landing were made without success until the final safe touchdown; whereupon he soon lost a little directional control, hit a runway light, and collapsed the right main gear, coming to rest near the flight line where several other jets were parked. Not a scratch on him, but he was boiling mad about veering off the runway and had nothing good to say about the fellows who had attempted to force him down.
He was summarily drummed out of the Air Force, left Norway, and spent the rest of his life in the USA.
The aircraft had Norwegian markings DP-I, tail number 51-11752 as shown in the picture below. (Also note the RNAF RF-84F Thunderflash in the background - this could have turned out
much worse !). The T-Bird was quickly repaired and returned to service.
I'm looking to find out more about this story and the airplane's history. Particularly, missing details/pictures about its time with the French Air Force after retirement from the RNAF. I know it eventually ended up in the Thai Air Force and was taken out of service as late as 1993 after, apparently, a cockpit fire. Today it's in a museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand as far as I've been able to determine.
If anyone can shed any more details about this story or the airplane, I would sincerely appreciate it. I know a court of inquiry took place in Norway and that the control tower tapes were scrutinized - but try as I might, the tapes and inquiry commission records seem to have disappeared. (I know it's a small breach of forum etiquette, but if no one strongly objects I'm also posting this in the Aviation History and Nostalgia forum).
Cheers,
Tom
PS: Oh yes, forgot to mention something: the miscreant himself was my older brother, call sign "Alpine".
