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STANDTO
3rd Jan 2003, 18:56
righto, heres oneto test the archives!

Many years ago, a pilot, who I am not sure if he was actually involved, related a tale of a four ship of I think, Hunters out of St Mawgan. They were flying without radio contact.

One didn't get airborne

One turned back

one (and this is the one I am interested in) went tech, the pilot ejected and the a/c "landed" in between two houses, on its side, fairly intact, at, I think, Tintagel.

The remaining a/c, the lead ship, managed to get back in one piece.

Fact or fiction - anyone shed any light???

BEagle
4th Jan 2003, 14:45
Hunter F Mk 6A XG 197 from 1 TWU, RAF Brawdy, crashed at Tintagel on Friday 6 July 1979. I don't know any other details other than the pilot had ejected into the sea and the aircraft ended up wedged between a guest house and King Arthur's Terrace.

STANDTO
4th Jan 2003, 15:58
That'll be the one Beags - I owe you a Lagavullin!!!

Apparently they used to sell postcards of this. Anyone else got any more details seeing as I appear to be on the right lines?

http://www.tintagelweb.co.uk/Tintagel%20Plane%20Crash.htm


I should have been a detective

Synthetic
4th Jan 2003, 21:51
I think I have seen the accident report for this one. If memory serves me correctly, there was a blockage in the fuel system. The engine was loosing power so the pilot ejected. The shock cleared the blockage and the Hunter toddled off to Cornwall
(Very nice too:) )

Legalapproach
6th Jan 2003, 05:26
Can't now remember what caused the problem but the pilot elected to eject and pointed the aircraft out to sea. Following ejection the aircraft performed a 180 and headed back to the coast in a gentle descent, finally crashing at Tintagel. The cover of the accident report showed a photograph of the tail of the Hunter emerging from between the two houses. I believe that nobody was hurt but for a long time Tintagel was marked as an area to avoid on low levels out of courtesy to the local population.

Moneyshot
10th Jan 2003, 10:07
Likewise, remember reading the report whilst loafing between sorties in the UAS crewroom. Excellent parking, you couldn't do that on purpose!

hunterxf382
1st Sep 2005, 22:21
I had only been at Brawdy 2 weeks when this happened. Remember visiting a nearby relative and opening up the Daily Mail to see one of our kites was down - BIG TIME!!
Dunno if I'm cursed then, because when I was posted from Brawdy to Cottesmore (TTTE), within 2 weeks one of the Italian Tornados (I40) put down on the runway with no gear and it took the entire length of my posting to Cottesmore before it ever flew again...lol :\

Anyone want their aircraft looking at? :O

country calls
2nd Sep 2005, 20:27
Well I am definitely a bad risk posting wise. While on my FLM course at my first posting, Valley, a SARTU Whirlwind dropped in (heavily) at Trearddur Bay Caravan Park. Then six weeks in at Marham the Victor caught fire at the end of the runway. Leap ahead and only two weeks after arriving there, TTTE lost their first Tornado. Within a month of arriving at Lossie the Jaguar had gone off the end of the runway, tearing some of the recently laid surface up to take with it into the sea. Then finally (so far) I arrived at Lyneham just before the Kukes crash.

Please note future drafters and potential Stn Cdrs (especially Lossie and Kinloss) I really am not worth the risk!

cc

Onan the Clumsy
3rd Sep 2005, 18:46
The engine was loosing power so the pilot ejected. The shock cleared the blockage and the Hunter toddled off to Cornwall ...well that alone should make it worthwhile to carry a backseater :E

AngloPepper
19th Sep 2005, 22:34
I used to work with the unfortunate pilot of this Hunter. The engine went to full idle as a result of a fault in the fuel metering unit. He trimmed the aircraft pointing out to sea, ejected and then wathched it turn round and coast in! Sadly he messed up his back (thanks to the old bang seat) and was then messed about about endlessly by the MoD. They really couldn't see the irony in making him unfit for flying but refusing to compensate him!

As I recall, the engine fault was caused by a stray blob of grease blocking the venturi that compensated for altitude. The engine assumed it was now in the outer atmosphere and cut the fuel flow to, well, not very much.

Tarnished
20th Sep 2005, 01:54
Am prompted to post on this because of the comments about the jet flying on after ejection on this and a couple of other threads.

Tha assumpion being that the pilot had done such a good job in trimming out the aircraft prior to vacating that it flew on perfectly well with out him.

Well, how about this for an observation, aircraft in trim, remove pilot and flight equipment (200lbs), remove ejection seat (guess at at least 300lbs) remove canopy (100lbs) all from a point well forward of the cg, what happens to the pitch trim?

When I left my Hunter last I saw it was wing-ing over gracefully after pitching up steeply after I left it.

Tarnished

AngloPepper
20th Sep 2005, 14:40
Tarnished,

exactly so. The CG change leads to a pitch up and then ......depends. Wingover, stall straight ahead or stall / spin have all happened so there's really no accounting for where an abandoned jet is going to go. In this case the descent at idle power ruled out any chance of extending further out to sea.

Synthetic
25th Sep 2005, 22:26
Mea culpa it seems :sad:.

I should know about this one because :-

1/. I have seen the Board's report on this one.

2/. Alick was my Flight Commander all those years ago at Honnington. We talked about it often.

eading through his report however, it looks as if I got it wrong. Only thing I cannot work out is how.

Send three and forpence - we're going to a dance.

shortstripper
27th Sep 2005, 05:46
Coming into this thread late, but I have to comment :8

I lived in Tintagel at the time. My father had a fast food kiosk next to the petrol station that the Hunter would have hit, had it travel thirty feet further! I was at school in nearby Camelford when it happened and when the news came, it was the usual over reporting that a Hawker Hunter fast jet had crashed in the centre of Tintagel :rolleyes: It was actually the very edge of the village. The school bus came early to take us all home and I (living past the wreck site) was escorted through the wreckage by the RAF regiment (well one of them anyway). All the debris laying about was neatly circled with yellow lines and a numbers and yes the bulk of the aircraft was wedged in an alley between two houses. On it's travel up through gardens, demolised an above ground swimming pool and took the ladder out from under a man doing some gutter work! A small girl was fairly traumatised and didn't speak for a couple of months after, but that was it! No real damage, no explosion, nobody hurt ... an amazing thing to have witnessed (kind of) as a 14 year old school boy! :E

SS