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1969 USAF C130 Wreckage Found in Channel

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paulh
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by paulh » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:09 pm

paddyboy wrote:Who the heck would want to steal a Varsity :lol: :lol: :lol:
That did make me chuckle Paddyboy :lol: :lol:

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Sparts99
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Sparts99 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:46 am

Sparts99 wrote:There's a lot of cloak and dagger around this. If I remember rightly from some books I've read it was inferred an RAF fighter, flown by a USAF pilot who was on exchange at the time.
Chapter 7 of Lightning Boys Vol 1 makes a reference to this although the chronology is wrong, unless it happened twice? I have read the same thing elsewhere saying it was a Lightning with a USAF pilot but haven't been able to find the book.
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by gosman767 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:59 pm

I was a J/T on 111 Sqdn at Wattisham when this happened, our QRA aircraft were scrambled and had the 'target' on radar when they were recalled to base. It was a long time ago and my memory is not so good but I seem to remember the crews said they had been recalled as US Phantoms had taken over, wouldn't stake my pension on it though.

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effects
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by effects » Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:21 am

Zulu63 wrote:The full tale is on pprune https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-354300.html. Scroll down to posts by ColinB.
Make sure you read all of the parts, it is quite a tale!

willow70
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by willow70 » Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:20 pm

I wouldn't think a Lightning would have the range to get to near Guernsey where it went down . At low to medium level it would need a F4 to get from East Anglia and back . A ex Bentwaters controller said it was one of their jets that got it, So many conflicting stories about this, perhaps the truth is buried in some MOD file with a 100 year restriction on it.

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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Blackcat1 » Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:52 pm

The SAS didnt kill Diana, wasn't professional enough ;-)
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Sparts99
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Sparts99 » Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:49 am

willow70 wrote:I wouldn't think a Lightning would have the range to get to near Guernsey where it went down . At low to medium level it would need a F4 to get from East Anglia and back . A ex Bentwaters controller said it was one of their jets that got it, So many conflicting stories about this, perhaps the truth is buried in some MOD file with a 100 year restriction on it.
I'd agree with that if the Lightning was in a hurry. In the Lightning Boys book the event is stated as being at Christmas rather than May but as I said I have read elsehwere that it was a USAF pilot in a Lightning, I just can't remember which book. And yes, I doubt the truth will out for sometime yet.
In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

Sparts99
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Sparts99 » Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:59 pm

Me again. Lightning Boys 2, last page of chapter seven, coincidentally the same place as the info I quoted above, a Gutersloh Battle Flight (QRA) Lightning was brought to cockpit readiness when this happened as it was considered a possibility the airman was trying to defect.
In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by TankBuster » Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:16 am

I was having a read up about the C-130 incident on the link below & I have to admit that I'd never heard about the story until this thread popped up on FC. Its all very interesting!..

https://www.sammcgowan.com/meyers.html

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Sparts99
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Sparts99 » Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:13 am

Sparts99 wrote:Me again. Lightning Boys 2, last page of chapter seven, coincidentally the same place as the info I quoted above, a Gutersloh Battle Flight (QRA) Lightning was brought to cockpit readiness when this happened as it was considered a possibility the airman was trying to defect.
Actually they scrambled and patrolled the border until they knew which way the C-130 was going. I wonder if they would actually have ordered the C-130 to be shot down overe mainland Europe?
In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

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Knife 04
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by Knife 04 » Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:22 pm

Resurrecting this thread again - I see the story made the centre pages of the ‘Fail on Sunday’ on the 25th March - mum gave it to me today. Not read it yet but I expect it has some hidden ‘gems’

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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by nickowen » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:15 pm

And then there was the Australian Auster which jumped the chocks during hand starting at Bankstown, took off on its own, and flew around over the Sydney suburbs for a couple of hours, eventually reaching 10,000 feet. The RAAF launched a Wirrway and then a Meteor, but both had to recover after their guns jammed, and it was left to two RAN Sea Furies to shoot it down once it was on a safe heading. (Both Sea Fury pilots were RN exchange Officers)

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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-13

Post by GeorgeA » Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:22 am


Bucky P
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by Bucky P » Thu May 24, 2018 12:00 pm

They are about to talk about this on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 during the next hour!

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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by paddyboy » Thu May 24, 2018 2:54 pm

Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 = Grasshoppers 'display' at MH, IMHO :lol:
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Malcolm
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by Malcolm » Thu May 24, 2018 7:34 pm

1969 was before my time, but, did the USAF in the UK really stand active air defence QRA in those times? I've got my doubts. And if they didn't stand QRA, then the time required to put live armourments on a fighter and launch it would have precluded them doing anything in time I would have thought. By the time the alarm went off, someone legged it to the armoury and fetched some cannon shells and a sidewinder or two, fitted them to a jet and found a qualified crew the Herc would be 2 hours down range and out of F-4 range. If they'd gone supersonic half the country would have known about it, and it would hare required a tanker to get back to base and/or a divert to St Mawgan.

If a shoot-down did happen, then RAF or French QRA seem far more likely candidates to me, although the chain of command required for either to be allowed to shoot down a US aircraft if it were outside the 12 mile limit over the sea makes even that unlikely IMV.

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Freeman Lowell
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by Freeman Lowell » Fri May 25, 2018 6:41 am

paddyboy wrote:
Thu May 24, 2018 2:54 pm
Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 = Grasshoppers 'display' at MH, IMHO :lol:
Paddy,
I feel that I have jump in here...and agree with you!
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Snoop 95
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by Snoop 95 » Fri May 25, 2018 8:04 am

I was around in 1969, at school!, and vague memory recalls that it was not shot down and just ran out of gas and flopped into the sea.

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The Phantom
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by The Phantom » Sat May 26, 2018 6:14 am

That's why it would be good if they could recover it and hopefully find clues to what really did happen once and for all.

Snoop 95
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Re: English Channel hunt for wreck of stolen Mildenhall C-130

Post by Snoop 95 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:22 am

Extensive and enlightening (but inconclusive) article about this from BBC News Webisite:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-44711694

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