Harrier collision, Cheshire, mid 70's?

[martynw]

Harriers down

1976-01-19 I was on recovery duty for any of our Whirlwinds from number 2 flying training school when we got a call that two Harrier jump jets had collided near the Welsh border just north of us in Cheshire and were down on the ground, I took a tool box and got into the Whirlwind that had been made ready along with a Junior Technician (JT) Airframe fitter. On arrival at the site we circled the remains of a Harrier the other was no were to be seen, the piece of the one we could see was only three quarters of the cockpit, the starboard side was gone and everything aft of the pilot, including the back of his head was gone, so was most of the underside of the cockpit as the lower part of the ejection seat was stuck in the mud, we landed near the wreck without shutting down, the JT and I jumped out, the Whirlwind took off straight away.

We could see two groups of buildings near us, both about 300 metres away, people were coming towards us from one of them, that turned out to be Elms farm whose land we were on, I could see a road next to the other group of buildings so I sent the JT to investigate it, maybe they knew where the other aircraft was. The people approaching me had seen us get out of the Whirlwind, I was wearing a cold weather anorak which hid my military uniform underneath it, my priority at the point in time was to secure the immediate area around the pilot as he was still sitting in a live ejection seat that was badly damaged, although it was very cold I took off my anorak so give me some authority, and there I stood in shirt sleeves with my teeth chattering by the time they reached me. I explained the danger the remains of the aircraft posed and requested they stay at least 100 metres away, shortly after that a group of policemen arrived, I requested that they form a semicircle between the aircraft and buildings and keep away everyone, especially the cameras I could see on other people who were now appearing, I fail even today to understand way people have to stop and look at accidents, it is as if this ghoulish behaviour will please their master.

About an hour after I arrived our Engineering Officer arrived, I reported all that had happened up to that point expecting him to take over, but he told me to carry on and he left, shortly after that a Whirlwind from RAF Ternhill arrived, a Chief Technician jumped out and the Whirlwind was off again, he carried with him a reel of telephone wire and a phone, he told me he was an aircraft armourer and needed to disarm the ejection seat but did not know this model so with the agreement of the farmer he laid out the telephone wire from the farm to the wreck, and spoke to an armourer at RAF Wittering twenty minutes later he gave the all clear and the pilots body was removed. As soon as the body was gone, so where all the people, only the Chief Technician and I were left, I put on my anorak as at that point I was cold right through to my bones, I was also very hungry and thirsty as I had had nothing since my breakfast before leaving my house to go the RAF Ternhill.

After about an hour or so another Whirlwind arrived with a corporal, two airmen and camping equipment, the Chief Technician jumped into the Whirlwind as they jump out, and the Whirlwind was off again. I helped the guards set up their tent as it was now beginning to get dark, then a Land Rover came bouncing across the field driver by the JT who had arrived with me, where have you been and where did you get the vehicle? I asked him, he explained that the buildings I had sent him to, to find out about the other aircraft was a pub called The Little Man and someone in the pub had loaned him the vehicle to look for the other aircraft as I had told him too. This enthusiastic young airman had drawn a map of the Cholmondeston area and plotted on it all the places where he had found pieces of aircraft, he also informed me that dozens of medical staff where combing the area to look for pieces of the other pilots body as his aircraft had blown to pieces, and they had stopped for the night and were going to stay at RAF Ternhill, so he had come to get me, so him and I could get a lift home.

At home I sat in my kitchen and cried my eyes out and I could still smell his cooked body, and that smell stayed with me for quite a few days. The next day the newspapers came out with a picture of the wreck with the pilot still in it, I was very angry, as the only photographs taken, were taken by the police, so one of them had sold it to the papers, the papers also said that the aircraft was on fire, but I think the civilians reporting this mistook the engine exploding as a fire, I saw no evidence of the pilot being burnt, he had most defiantly been very hot but not burnt, my angry was still boiling when I got to work and immediately went to our Engineering Officer to tell him what I thought of the money grabbing policeman and the ghoulish behaviour of the news people, who in my opinion had no respect for a fallen soldier or his family, I told him that I was now glad that I had resigned from the RAF and was leaving the country of my birth.