Mirage in RAAF Service
R Landmann asked (in 2010)
Hi all -- I found this thread while following up a story I'd heard about a Mirage making a forced landing at a race track and being towed back to base along the highway; looks like this was Gary Cooper at Tomago
Does anyone here know which Mirage this was? The adf-serials site doesn't seem to mention the incident.
Have any pictures of the tow home emerged over the years? I imagine some must have been taken!
And a mere 3.5 years later I respond:
The aircraft was A3-29. In May 1966 it ingested a bird shortly after take off and Garry Cooper deadsticked it onto a disused WWII strip which was located at right angles to the Pacific Highway at Tomago, between the Hexham Bridge and the hill leading up to Raymond Terrace.
To make it even harder, power lines ran alongside the highway so Coop had to miss those before putting it down on the very short strip which ended in a stand of large trees. There were some small saplings growing on the strip and the Mirage demolished a few of them with only some minor damage to a Sidewinder.
At the time I was a corporal electrical fitter at 481 (M) Sqn at Williamtown and was part of the recovery crew that towed the bird home - about seven miles. A tow tractor was attached to the nose wheel but as the tow-bars had a breakable link, there was no hydraulic pressure to operate the brakes and there were some hills on the road, a 3 ton truck followed the bird, attached to the main wheels by rope.
Our route went south along the Pacific Hwy, turning into the Tomago - Nelson Bay Rd. As well as our recovery crew we had police, electricity supply authority and local council workers to disconnect power lines or remove culvert rails should that be necessary. As it happened we didn't need them.
The journey took around three hours and we developed a considerable tailback of cars as there were only a couple of places where we could pull over to let the traffic pass.
The only photo I can locate is in the book "Meteor, Sabre and Mirage in Australian Service" Stuart Wilson, Aerospace Publications P/L, Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1989; ISBN 0 9587978 2 X, p 189. A brief description of the affair is on p 184. The photo is attributed to Garry Cooper.
It shows the train of tractor - Mirage - truck and a very long trail of (frustrated) motorists. Right at the front is a disgustingly young and fit corporal who walked about half of the seven miles - backwards. I don't think I could do it today.
The book is out of print, but the publisher might still have a copy of the photo. If not, I can probably copy mine if anyone is interested and I can work out how to attach it.
Barry Williams
AKA Sir Jim