The missing C-130 37789
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The missing C-130 37789
I know this has been covered before but it's worthy of renewed attention. I'm not allowed to post the URL but look on the BBC website under news/stories.
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The BBC report fails to mention that a pair of Lightnings (presumably from Wattisham) was scrambled too; I was an assistant on duty at West Drayton and remember the phone call from Air Defence asking to arrange clearance for them through the LTMA.
It also mentions 'an' F100; surely they always travelled in pairs.
It also mentions 'an' F100; surely they always travelled in pairs.
The mention of 'an' F-100 rang a bell. I sat through an individual's tale who was adamant that "an" F100 returned from a U.K. scramble toward the south "minus a missile ". The gossip was that the aircraft had "intercepted a UFO".
For many practical reasons I find it near impossible to accept that a "UFO" would be fired upon. These urban legends however persist ( including even regarding the Lightning) and probably originate from escalated accounts of genuine "scrambles" to check unidentified radar returns.
For many practical reasons I find it near impossible to accept that a "UFO" would be fired upon. These urban legends however persist ( including even regarding the Lightning) and probably originate from escalated accounts of genuine "scrambles" to check unidentified radar returns.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
USAF accident report below and a link to the C-130 forum where the subject is discussed by those who were there at the time.
Paul Meyer
C-130 Hercules.net Forums
“This link is to the USAF accident report of the Meyers incident. I think I mentioned it on here before but Bob Patterson told me in 2012 that he personally briefed TAC commander Gen. W.W. Momyer on the incident. Bob believes Meyer passed out from hypoxia. As for him being headed anywhere, this more a myth than anything, He actually meandered all over England for TWO HOURS and was in and out of thunderstorms. The man was drunk as a skunk and probably had no idea what he was doing when he took the airplane off.”.....
Paul Meyer
C-130 Hercules.net Forums
“This link is to the USAF accident report of the Meyers incident. I think I mentioned it on here before but Bob Patterson told me in 2012 that he personally briefed TAC commander Gen. W.W. Momyer on the incident. Bob believes Meyer passed out from hypoxia. As for him being headed anywhere, this more a myth than anything, He actually meandered all over England for TWO HOURS and was in and out of thunderstorms. The man was drunk as a skunk and probably had no idea what he was doing when he took the airplane off.”.....
In the 1950's and RAF airman stole a Varsity aircraft and flew to France where the aircraft crashed and destroyed several houses and killed/injured a number of civilians.
There must have been something in the water at RAF Tern Hill/Stoke Heath as there were two incidents in the war when airmen took aircraft and flew them away. In one the airman was killed but I think in the second the man survived.
Old Duffer
There must have been something in the water at RAF Tern Hill/Stoke Heath as there were two incidents in the war when airmen took aircraft and flew them away. In one the airman was killed but I think in the second the man survived.
Old Duffer
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Lakenheath didn’t hold a QRA so would have had no live armed aircraft on alert; if any jets were fitted with Mx they would have been inert training rounds.
The possibility that anyone would have been able to go far enough up the command chain (it was after midnight Washington time) to get permission to live arm aircraft, get the Mx out of the armoury onto the aircraft and brief a couple of pilots and then launch them inside an hour is sheer fantasy. I am willing to accept they were able to scramble the only two Ircraft they already had pre-flighted for other missions (another C-130 and an F-100*) to try and find and track the C-130 with ATCC assistance, but no more than that.
*That time in the morning, a Wx check aircraft?
The possibility that anyone would have been able to go far enough up the command chain (it was after midnight Washington time) to get permission to live arm aircraft, get the Mx out of the armoury onto the aircraft and brief a couple of pilots and then launch them inside an hour is sheer fantasy. I am willing to accept they were able to scramble the only two Ircraft they already had pre-flighted for other missions (another C-130 and an F-100*) to try and find and track the C-130 with ATCC assistance, but no more than that.
*That time in the morning, a Wx check aircraft?
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The man was drunk as a skunk and probably had no idea what he was doing when he took the airplane off.”....
By what means would Meyer have been able to hold an hour long phone call to his wife from the C-130, in 1969?
Just curious!
Just curious!
What I take from this is nothing in the way of conspiracy...it is the staggering ineptitude of an organisation that allows someone who is transparently falling apart at the seams to:
a. Work on aircraft.
b. Nick one.
jeez...Fred Karno would have been proud of this circus.
Incidentally, if anybody is wondering why this incident is not well known, you might want to consider that the US had other things on its mind back then. Like this incident happened five days after the US started bombing the cr@p out of Cambodia.
Indeed near the end of Chapter 7. Rick Groombridge's first-hand account of a QRA launch of a Lightning from Wattisham involving an American Exchange Officer taking over from him at the time of the Herc. incident.
The aircraft reportedly then coming back minus one missile (initially).
As he concludes:
"Heyho. Anyone for tennis?"
I can't add to that .
The aircraft reportedly then coming back minus one missile (initially).
As he concludes:
"Heyho. Anyone for tennis?"
I can't add to that .
Last edited by Haraka; 19th Apr 2018 at 08:37.
This whole tale reminds me of the so-called "mystery" of the loss of Glenn Miller. Single engined aircraft takes off for a cross channel trip in bad weather and fails to make it - whatever could have happened? Must have been aliens or shot down by someone who was sick of his music!
Drunk airman goes stoogeing around "under the radar" (ie at low level) flying a large complex aircraft solo, and disappears. Has to have been shot down, what other explanation can there be? I can understand his widow clutching at straws, but not any of the other conspiracy theorists who always seem to reject the obvious explanation.
Drunk airman goes stoogeing around "under the radar" (ie at low level) flying a large complex aircraft solo, and disappears. Has to have been shot down, what other explanation can there be? I can understand his widow clutching at straws, but not any of the other conspiracy theorists who always seem to reject the obvious explanation.
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How a single man can take command of a multi crew aircraft from experinced groundcrew and it not bring suspicion from them into "Where is the rest of you crew? This is not right, regardless of rank and your verbal orders." Baffling indeed. If they do find the wreckage, it will be interesting to see if it was brought down by an AAM.
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Here's a claim posted today from a group called Deeper Dorset:
https://www.deeperdorset.co.uk/lockh...s-coming-home/
3RD DECEMBER 2018
Lockheed Hercules 63-7789 is no longer missing the real Paul Meyer story is coming home.
In some ways finding the aircraft was the easy bit (HaHa). We now have a real task ahead of us but as usual we will come at it straight and level whatever it takes. We will treat the aircraft remains as if it were a crime scene the first job being to map out and image not just the main site but the various pieces we can see on the sonar around the site.
Already it is obvious we will learn a lot from what is still there after fifty years however the work is going to be painstaking as we reverse engineer the sequence of events. We cannot do this alone we require folks with specialist knowledge and we are working on that very hard right now. Having located the aircraft we can already dispel a lot of stupid rumours and conspiracy theories which is certainly half the battle won.
It is though fairly obvious that many facts regarding that day have been withheld and it would be a really good idea if someone got the file out and started talking to us before we start to tell the story our way, trust me we have a David and Goliath situation here and we will stop at nothing to figure this sad story out.
Lockheed Hercules 63-7789 is no longer missing the real Paul Meyer story is coming home.
In some ways finding the aircraft was the easy bit (HaHa). We now have a real task ahead of us but as usual we will come at it straight and level whatever it takes. We will treat the aircraft remains as if it were a crime scene the first job being to map out and image not just the main site but the various pieces we can see on the sonar around the site.
Already it is obvious we will learn a lot from what is still there after fifty years however the work is going to be painstaking as we reverse engineer the sequence of events. We cannot do this alone we require folks with specialist knowledge and we are working on that very hard right now. Having located the aircraft we can already dispel a lot of stupid rumours and conspiracy theories which is certainly half the battle won.
It is though fairly obvious that many facts regarding that day have been withheld and it would be a really good idea if someone got the file out and started talking to us before we start to tell the story our way, trust me we have a David and Goliath situation here and we will stop at nothing to figure this sad story out.