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Stolen USAF C-130 Crash Site Located


Charlie Flick
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Charlie Flick

Back in 1969 an apparently inebriated and homesick Air Force mechanic stole a C-130 from RAF Mildenhall air base in the UK. It crashed into the Channel and now has finally been located. I had never heard of this incident before. Here is how the BBC is reporting it:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-46624382

 

 

Regards,

Charlie

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Back in 1969 an apparently inebriated and homesick Air Force mechanic stole a C-130 from RAF Mildenhall air base in the UK. It crashed into the Channel and now has finally been located. I had never heard of this incident before. Here is how the BBC is reporting it:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-46624382

 

Regards,

Charlie

 

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I'll be damned, I never figured that they would find it. Yeah, after the crew chief talked to his wife via radio, he was going to turn around and try to land the plane but was believed to have been shot down instead to save a possible disaster. The question was whether or not it was an F-100 from Lakenheath or an RAF Lightning from Wattisham (I believe). There was a story from one of the RAF maintenance guys that stated that the Lightning landed short one missile. When I was stationed at Mildenhall for 7 years, there was a parking stand (spot 19 IIRC) that was considered haunted as strange things were always happening there. AGE equipment was stored on the spot, perhaps for a reason. This was always a popular story....a true one at that.

 

-Ski

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Simon Lerenfort

Not heard of this story before, but it is a tragic one. Perhaps one day the truth will be known, but it’s not going to be told officially for a long time as it’s still classified.

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What a sad story.

A bit of a drift off topic but we had a soldier at our Kaserne (Panzer Kaserne) in Germany who stole an M60 tank in 1977. Drove it past the front guard shack and on down the road. Ran over a car or two with civilians inside who were seriously injured. Of course the tank was eventually stopped. From talking to some of the guys, found out the MP's followed the tank to some point where it stopped. The driver opened the hatch and hopped out to lock the barrel down in the clamp when the MP's who were following swiftly ran up and pointed their 45's at him. It was over. Of course no one heard or saw that guy anymore or found out how he was dealt with. But we all new that the guy was horribly homesick and combined with booze, he went over the edge.

Kim

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I remember the C-130 incident from my time in the USAF. There were several radio reports on this as it happened and if I remember correctly, the plane was reported last seen hugging the waves heading west. Yes, this was a very sad story.

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