Came across an interesting story while looking at air accidents around the Channel Islands, the loss of a C-130E, 63-7789, c.n. 3856, of the 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron at RAF Lakenheath after it had been borrowed by an apparently drunk Crew Chief, Paul Meyers. The aircraft came down in the Channel, close to Alderney, after flying around for about 1.30 hrs, rumour has it that he was heading for either the Azores or France. It’s possible that the aircraft crashed after Meyers had set the autopilot so he could be free to talk to his wife via a radio/telephone link.
I’ve found a reasonable amount about the incident on the intraweb, including theories that Meyer’s aircraft was shot down, possibly by the F100’s that were reputed to have been sent after him from Lakenheath or by the French Air Force.
Going back a few years, 20 odd I think, I recall a story told to me when I was a young ATC cadet about RAF fighters being scrambled to find and shoot down an errant US Air Force transport aircraft, basically because the US authorities didn’t want their crews tarnished with the stigma of killing their own. I dismissed the story as BS, however after reading the account of this incident of 23 May 1969 it maybe that there maybe some substance in the story told to me.
Why Meyers crashed has never been explained, and it seems that the US authorities have subsequently blocked the records from being released.
I wonder, if RAF aircraft were involved whether Squadron records would reflect the incident and whether these records are yet available.
By: BIGVERN1966 - 1st May 2006 at 23:31
Came across an interesting story while looking at air accidents around the Channel Islands, the loss of a C-130E, 63-7789, c.n. 3856, of the 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron at RAF Lakenheath after it had been borrowed by an apparently drunk Crew Chief, Paul Meyers. The aircraft came down in the Channel, close to Alderney, after flying around for about 1.30 hrs, rumour has it that he was heading for either the Azores or France. It’s possible that the aircraft crashed after Meyers had set the autopilot so he could be free to talk to his wife via a radio/telephone link.
I’ve found a reasonable amount about the incident on the intraweb, including theories that Meyer’s aircraft was shot down, possibly by the F100’s that were reputed to have been sent after him from Lakenheath or by the French Air Force.
Going back a few years, 20 odd I think, I recall a story told to me when I was a young ATC cadet about RAF fighters being scrambled to find and shoot down an errant US Air Force transport aircraft, basically because the US authorities didn’t want their crews tarnished with the stigma of killing their own. I dismissed the story as BS, however after reading the account of this incident of 23 May 1969 it maybe that there maybe some substance in the story told to me.
Why Meyers crashed has never been explained, and it seems that the US authorities have subsequently blocked the records from being released.
I wonder, if RAF aircraft were involved whether Squadron records would reflect the incident and whether these records are yet available.
Unless its been pulled or was not entered in the ORB, it should be listed in a Squadron ORB, everything to 1975 has been released by ABH and is now at the NA at Kew However the is a strong possibly that it will not be listed if it was true, as I’ve heard of a number of incidents from a number of people that have included dates through the years, that when I’ve checked the ORB of the unit in question, there was nothing listed about the incident.
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May 1, 2006 at 11:01 pm