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Stolen military aircraft
Continued from the Lightning thread:
Originally Posted by Double Zero
There are the other stories which circulate, such as the American loadmaster who took a C-130 headed for East Germany ( & failed to reach it courtesy of a Lightning ) & the groundcrew ( Belgian ? ) chap who pinched an F-16 for a spectacular suicide... Even had a threat to steal a Harrier or Hawk at our place once, which was rather robustly dealt with by a certain Mr. J.F; he was intelligent enough to warn us all, which I doubt others would have done.
During my time fixing USMC A-6E intruders at MCAS El Toro, Ca, an A-4M was stolen by a Lance Corporal... and returned safely (July 4, 1986)! LCpl Foote was an Avionics tech, and was also an accomplished private pilot and high altitude glider pilot. Unfortunately he liked to soar the gliders to very high altitudes (one flight a world record for a 17-year-old), and on one flight he got an embolism in one of his arms, which disqualified him from ever becoming a pilot as far as the USMC was concerned. [LCpl Foote was disqualified from flight training for more than just the embolism issue.] LCpl Foote worked on the transient aircraft line as a plane captain (and was qualified to taxi aircraft under power), and had gotten several senior officers to give him time in the simulators while preparing his (rejected) application for commissioning and flight training. He worked night crew and decided to prove to the Marine Corps that he could indeed fly and that any other physical issues were non-factors. Foote took the A4 Skyhawk from the flight line at MCAS El Toro (I forget the particular squadron) and was on his way to March AFB. In route the aircraft lost the electrical generator and he was forced to deploy the RAT and return to MCAS El Toro. Foote had to circle the air station until the MPs were able to have the airfield light turned on so that he could land, as it was a holiday and the entire base was on stand-down from flight ops. He did get a court martial, and was reduced in Rank and given a General Discharge as part of an agreement with the USMC. (His own Commanding Officer and other senior officers, including the Wing Commanding General, asked the Court to NOT give him a Dishonorable Discharge due to his outstanding record - except for this one blemish). Leniency Urged for Marine in Fighter Joy Ride Attorney Tells Hearing of El Toro Mechanic's Lifelong Dream of Being Jet Pilot All Counts Dropped Against Marine for Jet Fighter Joy Ride |
In 1969, a C130 crew chief at Mildenhall took 'his'aircraft after receiving a 'Dear John'letter from his wife. He headed west apparently intending to fly it to the US, but crashed in the English Channel somewhere off the Channel Islands. It appears that F100s were scrambled form Lakenheath to intercept him, as to whether they shot him down, it's not been proved.
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If you a search on the Herky Bird Forum, you will a copy of the official USAF report.
He was indeed shot down by two USAF fighters. Regards Col Tigwell |
Belgian F 16
I can certainly vouch for the techie who stole the F 16 whilst on deployment to somewhere snowy from Florennes. Whilst on the staff of TLP back in 89/90I nipped down to one of the BAF Sqns to "borrow" some maps to see on the board the words crashed beside one of the airframes. I asked the auth what had happened and he explained that they had finished the days flying and were having a beer in one of the HAS's when one of their ac taxied past. The "pilot" was a sooty and managed to get it ab only to fly into cloud and crash some 40 miles away!:sad:
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Stolen C-130
It made headline news in the next day's papers (24th May 1969) as seen here: http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image1-3.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image2-3.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image3-2.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image8-1.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image5-2.jpg |
Herc' V Lightning
I heard this, all sounding the same, from several different people from very different squadrons; by all accounts, as I heard it, the chap was heading straight East over the 'Iron Curtain' - otherwise no real reason to shoot him down in a hurry was there ?
So, the Lightning's only kill was some nut in a blue on blue - though frankly seems justified given the ramifications. Possibly the Mig's shooting at transports within the Berlin corridor earlier was relevant, but I'm only guessing. |
We had some US huey's visited Odius in the 70's and they bolted some hasp and clasps to the doors whilst visiting, saying it had come down from above after one of them went walkabout in the US and flew around washington for a while or so they lead us to believe.......
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Originally Posted by herkman
If you a search on the Herky Bird Forum, you will a copy of the official USAF report.
He was indeed shot down by two USAF fighters. Regards Col Tigwell |
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Vung Tau, Christmas Eve 1969, a very drunk USAF ground crew decided it was time to go home and thought he could make it to KSFO in an O2 (Cessna 337).
He made it as far as the other end of the runway, taking out the threshold lights and quite a few runway lights on the way. Didn't see the bang, but saw the aftermath. |
You are missing the best one of all. A mechanic stole a four engined B.45 Tornado from possibly Alconbury?? or maybe Lakenheath. Got airborne, but didn't get too far before it became a smoking hole. Cannot give you the year though, but it most definately happened. Not often someone steals a four jet bomber.!!!
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Some time in the 50s an RAF Cpl nicked a Varsity from , I think, Thorney Island. Crashed in northern France IIRC.
Did'nt the pinched Huey land in the White House grounds? |
Sorry for delay, very slack of me, must be too much Christmas cheer, or come to think of it, how can you have too much Xmas cheer.
The C130 forum called herkyBirds is found at www.herkybirds.com Search on shot down C130 and it will lead to as much of the story as was released. Regards Col |
Hmmmm....I signed up for the website and searched as directed but nothing is coming up. Also, I can't go to the forums so maybe the website is down. I'll search again later.
Thanks for the info. :ok: This topic has always held interest for me ever since hearing about the shoot down of a B-52 near the Canadian border and a similar shootdown of a Navy A-6 after the crew ejected during launch. Both were during the Viet Nam war. I was aboard ship when my crewmen rescued two Air Force pilots in the Aegean after one of our F-14's shot down their F-4. |
shoot down of a B-52 near the Canadian border |
Stolen Aircraft - 3 May 1919
Just read about a very early theft. Lt Edwin Arnold Clear MC took off from Shotwick near Chester on 3 May 1919. He was awaiting trial on a charge of 'conduct to the prejudice etc' following low flying under a bridge a few weeks earlier. Whilst exercising, he gave his escort the slip, nabbed an SE5, took off and headed for Ireland. He got lost and landed on the Isle of Man. He found out where he was, took off and decided to impress the assembled crowd with some aerobatics. He suffered engine failure and crashed virtually on what is now Ronaldsway Airport but walked away with minor cuts and bruises. He was subsequently identified, re-arrested and removed back to Chester on 8 May. I've no idea of his subsequent fate!(Source: Steve Poole - 'Rough Landing or Fatal Flight')
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You are missing the best one of all. A mechanic stole a four engined B.45 Tornado from possibly Alconbury?? or maybe Lakenheath. Got airborne, but didn't get too far before it became a smoking hole. Cannot give you the year though, but it most definately happened. Not often someone steals a four jet bomber.!!! In June, 1958, another United States mechanic took off in a B45 bomber from Alconbury base, in Huntingdon, and this aircraft crashed on to the London-Edinburgh railway line. |
A B-52 was shot down over the US by a F-100 in the late 1950's / early 1960's during a PI, when an electrical fault caused a Sidewinder to be launched when the Super Sabre pilot pressed the trigger to operate the gun camera. However the incident happened over New Mexico if memory serves. I think 3 of the B-52 crew were killed. Edit - Info Shootdown: the death of the B-52 Ciudad Juarez The incident happened in 1961, and the Hun was from the New Mexico ANG. The fault with the launcher is thought to be the same as that on the F-14 which resulted in the shoot down of a USAFE RF-4C over the Med as stated above
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I seem to remember an incident in the late 1940's when a Squadron Leader (?) from Marham (?) departed for Israel with a Mosquito (?) managing to refuel at various locations on the way. At the time there was a premium on any military equipment because of the emergence of the state of Israel. A lot of question marks in this one but time dims the details.
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Friday the 13th June 1958 was a bad day for service aviation as this press cutting shows. The stolen B-45 Tornado incident is mentioned in para 2.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...thJune1958.jpg |
Proper theft
Vaguely recall a story being told to me about an A.A.C. helicopter being nicked from Middle Wallop. Apparantly a low-loader turned up at main gate one day and the driver stated he was there to collect an aircraft, (from the historic flight?), and take it for re-spray. He even got help loading it, so the story goes. Local police finally found it about 6 months later hidden in a local barn.
Its a good story, but somehow hard to believe. |
Steal a Harrier / Hawk
This was apparently a real threat, made by some ex-R.A.F pilot who had a major chip on his shoulder.
Since there was only one airfield he could mean, it didn't help his chances that he publicised his intentions ! We were instructed by a certain famous C.T.P / Airfield Manager to always leave a vehicle parked in front of flight line aircraft, resist any attempt if possible but if faced with weapons, let him go & the R.A.F. would deal with it... Of course the worry is the people underneath. |
Slightly off thread, but one of my QFIs on UAS was part of the trio that stole a steam train in Germany......
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Free Private Preston!
...was what you could read as graffiti at a couple of places in Washington, D.C. after he stole a Huey and landed it on the White House lawn in the early Seventies.
From what I remember Private Preston was a helicopter crew chief who had not made the cut to be trained as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and this was his way of showing everyone that he could too fly helos to a reasonable standard! When he landed on the lawn a Secret Service man shot him with a 12-gauge. Then he was taken off to be tried and sent to Fort Leavenworth to turn rocks into gravel or whatever it is you have to do when the Army is very, very unhappy with you. After that one Army helos were fitted with ignition switches, I think. I heard that one of our crew chiefs (holder of a civilian pilot's licence) in Viet Nam, down in Can Tho I think, took an RU-8D (the military version of the BE-50 Twin Bonanza) around the pattern one evening on a dare with no-one the wiser. The story made the rounds of the enlisted men but must have not awakened any official interest, plus it would have been pretty embarrassing to publicise some Specialist Fifth Class taking a bird crammed with top-secret gear on a flip around the pattern like that. |
Just found this one on the 'Nostalgia' forum. Coo, what a lark!!
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...-canberra.html |
Again off thread, but in the 1990's a couple of 47AD dispatchers decided the best way to RTB back to Lyneham after a night out in Bath was by bus.
Problem was they nicked it from the bus depot and then took it (IIRC) for a quick gangsta wheels spin around said town. Cue involvement of the local plod ( and loads of blue lights :ok: ) before they were finally brought to heel. Some locals thought it was a film shoot, the then CO of 47AD thought otherwise......:* I think it went to Court Marshal and some pretty hefty fines - but at least they got home eventually :eek: |
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Blather: One of our bombers is missing!
Craig D. Button - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I do remember this and was an A-10 (........just the thing you need for clearing a way through traffic on a surface commute) which disappeared with 4 x 500lb MK-82 bombs which were never recovered. |
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...-canberra.html
This really is a classic and would have made a great Ealing comedy. |
Not exactly stealing, but...
PWA,
Re. the Mosquito disappearing towards Israel, a book very worth reading - and it seems less recognised than deserved - is ' Flying Under Two Flags' by Gordon Levatt. After flying Spitfires etc in WWII, he joined in the distinctly clandestine & dangerous scrabbling together of the rag-tag Israeli air force, everything from fighters to transports, with some very hairy flights. I can't remember if the Mosquito is mentioned as the book is not to hand, but he does mention having a flight line of Spitfires & Messerchmitts alongside each other ! Another 'not exactly stolen' but distinctly unauthorised flight was the case of an R.A.F. groundcrew chap on a forward beach strip, in the Med' I think. They were told to evacuate by road, leaving a good Spitfire behind as there weren't any pilots handy. He hadn't any flying training, but reckoned he could suss it out - he did, with a few wobbles, and got the aircraft back to fight another day. Naturally his reward was a B@llocking... |
One of our A10's is missing...
...hey guys, great thread. :ok:
Thought you might find the story of a missing ANG A10 from 1997 interesting: Radar reports, sightings plot path of missing A-10 Air Force suspects jet not on auto-pilot April 11, 1997 Web posted at: 8:16 p.m. EDT (0016 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Missing Air Force Capt. Craig Button was flying the third of three A-10s on April 2 as the formation approached a practice range on what the Air Force says was a routine air-to-ground gunnery mission. Button and the second A-10 Thunderbolt dropped 6,000 feet behind the lead jet as they neared the Gila Bend target range in a remote area south of Phoenix and west of Tucson, Maj. Gen. Donald Peterson said at a news conference Friday. The officer said the "separation" between the jets is standard procedure. But while the second jet followed the leader into the range, Button apparently did not, and he has not been heard from since. His A-10 fighter followed a path that took him in a northeasterly direction out of Arizona, through a corner of New Mexico and into Colorado. Peterson said Button, whose jet was based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, was spotted a number of times by observers on the ground. One person who saw him was an unidentified pilot backpacking in mountains near Aspen. Air Force believes A-10 was flown manually The pilot told the Air Force that Button flew through a "sucker hole," a pocket of clear sky in what was otherwise a heavy overcast. It was the A-10's ability to find the hole, and its frequent change of direction during that period, that has persuaded the Air Force that Button was flying the plane manually rather than relying on automatic-pilot. The A-10 also was tracked by radar in Phoenix, Albuquerque and Denver. Because the A-10's transponder was turned off, however, the plane could not be identified at the time. It was only after studying radar tapes later that authorities were able to track Button's flight. The search, which has been hampered by overcast skies, high winds, snow drifts up to 6 feet deep and continued snowfall, is concentrated in a remote section of Eagle County, Colorado, 12 to 15 miles from Vail. Peterson said authorities believe the A-10 had no more than 2 minutes to 5 minutes of fuel left, and the jet is believed to have crashed near New York Mountain and Craig Peak. Observers reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke, but no wreckage has been found. Peterson said the Air Force believed that the 500-pound bombs attached to the plane were not activated, and would have remained intact if it crashed. It may or may not be a coincidence that Button's first name is Craig, and that his family is reportedly from New York. |
Talking about the Israeli's early attempts to round up an airforce, didn't someone persuade the RAF to let him have some Beauforts to make a a film about Coastal Commands wartime exploits.
However the only thing they actually achieved was a long range ferry flight to Haifa. |
Warrior driven over car
This follows a proud tradition of many others I'm sure.
Back in the 50s my uncle did his national service doing maintenance on Tanks in Germany. He decided to have a joyride in a BAR tank on the way back from a serious session in the local alehouse. Due to a lack of skill/excess of alcohol he missed the local road and ended up half way through an empty barrack block and was caught red handed (and faced) by the MPs. As a result he spent the last half of his national service in the glass house and did not get a very good reference for civi-street. Still talks about it with pride if you get him drunk enough :-) |
Missing A-10
I'd always wondered about that one, but when I read ' mother was a jehova's witness' one hardly need go any further - in an ideal world he'd have used the Mk82's on her; I knew a very good colleague who was forced to give up his long standing job when that lot got control of his wife.
Certainly a mystery about the bombs, it's very obvious when they've been dropped or jettisoned, and by the sound of the terrain it would be very hard & fairly skilled work to remove them, + hardly worth the effort as there's nothing special about them - suppose they must have bounced a long way ??? That would show too if they'd been torn from the pylons / carriers... |
Stolen from Thorney Island
Curiously another stolen / illegal flight has come to light, this time of a Varsity from Thorney Island in April 1955. Five died (the pilot - an airframe mechanic who had a PPL) and four on the ground in France. As recorded in the Aviation Safety Network: Accident description languages: Status: Date: 26 APR 1955 Type: Vickers Varsity T.1 Operator: Royal Air Force - RAF Registration: WF426 C/n / msn: 569 First flight: 1952 Crew: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Ground casualties: Fatalities: 4 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Onnaing (France) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Illegal Flight Departure airport: Thorney Island RAF Station, United Kingdom Destination airport: - Narrative: The Varsity was taken on an unauthorised flight by a mechanic. The aircraft crossed the Channel but crashed into a farmhouse at Onnaing, near Valenciennes in northern France. Sources: » Broken Wings : Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents / James J. Halley This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time. http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image1-4.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image2-4.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image3-3.jpg http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/Image4-2.jpg |
"Own Up - Who Stole The Prentice!?"
In 1955 a Percival Prentice was stolen by a SAC from the No 1 Air Signallers School at Swanton Morely and flown to Belgium. He landed in a very small field with no damage to the aircraft. The field was so small that it had to be dismantled for return to UK - the Prentice , not the field.
John B |
"Own Up - Who Stole The Prentice!?"
S.A.C. Dixon B.
Left Swanton pre-dawn to visit his girl friend. Landed on a small concrete farm road (Brugge? area), pictures in the "Eastern Daily Press". Helped out on the Swanton gliding school,generally as winch driver in exchange for flying time. Subsequently spent time in the "funny farm". |
Lol, it makes piano burning look like kindergarten, :ok:
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By way of contrast, in the early 1950s the 602, City of Glasgow, RAuxAF Squadron (Vampires) returned to base from a Tangmere exercise, taking with them a treasured souvenir (a London hotel commissionaire’s top hat) “belonging” to 1 Sqn (Meteors). To redress the situation a 1 Sqn Fg Off was dropped off at Glasgow in the T7 and bluffed his way through the 602 line office and stole one of their Vampire 5s, which he flew to Tangmere, where it was hidden at the back of the 1 Sqn hangar; this was the first time he had flown a Vampire. It was a little while before 602 noticed they were one short and a little longer to discover what had happened to it, but eventually aircraft and hat were exchanged and honour declared to be satisfied.
The Fg Off escaped either punishment or a spell in a funny farm for the unauthorised flight and in due course retired in the rank of Air Chief Marshal.:ok: |
I recently read "Foxbat" by James Barrington (ex sea harriers, I believe - and don't ask, I had a long train journey). I laughed at the idea that a bunch of MiG-25s could reasonably be stolen.
We live and learn, I suppose. |
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