Victor / Canberra collision, Holt, Norfolk. August 1968
Hello Everyone. I understand that this site and forum is open not only to Aircrew, but also to ground crew ( presumably including Erks and Sprogs. I happened on this site by accident, read every post about this event, and decided to chip in my tuppenceworth. Many of the posts on this subject seem to be accurate and technically correct, although the odd one or two seem to be comprised of ill-qualified conjecture, supposition, and inaccuracies.
For what it's worth, in August 1968, I was a lowly SAC Mechanic ( Airframes ) attached to MEAS ( Mechanical Engineering Aircraft Squadron, at RAF Marham.
I had carried out work personally on the Victor 646, mostly light servicing, skin repairs, undercarriage work, PFCU installation and removal, and had the priviledge of being "Hangar Pilot" in my section.
Reporting for duty on the morning after the collision, ( we had all heard rumours and chit-chat about the event during the night ), we were aware of a mad mad scrambling of servicing personel, checking out Form 700s and servicing paperwork associated with 646. Quite understandable I suppose, but also astonishing in the way that there seemed to a scrambling all the way to the top to mke sure there was no "buck" coming our way.
Soon after shift commencement, several of us were issued with lunch packs, loaded on to a bus and shipped over to the Forest at Holt. I think I can recall a NAFFI wagon eventually turning up at the site we were at. We were split into teams of 3 or 4 and basically told to head off in various directions. Our mandate was to search out and identify anything that might be connected with the collision. We were NOT to touch anything, but had to call an NCO should we see anything.
We were there most of the day, and I remember sitting in one of a number of old brick structures, waiting for further instructions. In a room next to us lay several large polythene bags, in which we all "knew" were contents which we all did not want to look at.
We had been told that one of ours ( 646 was a tanker with either 214 Squadron or TTF, had been hit under its port wing by a climbing Canberra on a "Nightex" from Bruggen and that the cause had been due to an error by a controller at RAF North Luffenham. I don't say all this is fact, but this is what we were told.
I was 22 at the time. I'm now going on 69. I remember one or two of the Victor crew ( although not personally - Commissioned and Other Ranks and all that ). I will always remember the sadness and desperation we all felt, and the way in which we all conducted ourselves during the following days.
So so sad. I still recall every moment of that day, 46 years on.
I just wanted to share this with anyone who was interested. Thank you/