Taken from the english section at http://www.aftenposten.no:
Foreign experts called in to help unravel plane crash mystery
Some are charging cover-up, others call it a waste of time. Norwegian authorities have nonetheless agreed to launch another probe into what caused a small commuter plane crash in northern Norway 20 years ago, with suspicion growing that the British military was involved.
Previous investigations into the crash of the plane from airline Wideroe have failed to answer lingering questions over the crash. The plane went down over Mehamn in Finnmark in 1982, killing all 15 on board.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) has brought the crash into focus again, following an investigative program of its own into the accident.
Several NRK sources contend the Wideroe plane was clipped in the air by one of two British Harriet jets that strayed outside an exercise area at the time. The alleged collision, they claim, disabled the plane, sending it into the sea, while the Harriet jet allegedly made it back to a landing field at Tromso.
Intrigue has surrounded the accident for years. Some claim they saw the damaged jet, while fishermen have taken up wreckage that also indicates a collision. Several charge the Norwegian and British military have covered up the cause of the crash for years.
Some pilots even have claimed that they received threatening telephone calls when they challenged previous investigations into the crash.
Government minister Victor Norman now says he’ll call in foreign experts to take part in a new commission set up to investigate the crash. The foreigners, he claims, will help ensure objectivity, noting that many Norwegian experts already have been involved in earlier commissions investigating the crash.
“Our goal is to form a commission that can best address the purely technical aspects of the case as well as the legal aspects,” he told NRK Tuesday.
Several members of parliament from Finnmark, including Olav Gunnar Ballo of the Socialist Left, are complaining that the Norwegian military won’t make public its archive on the Mehamn accident.
Ballo says it’s “unacceptable” that only the new commission will gain access to the archive.
By: striker - 10th November 2004 at 20:13
Norwegian national TV, NRK, disclosed new information about radar plots from the Norwegian radar station in Honningsvåg.
The radar plots were classified for a long period, but pressure from the Norwegian parlament, Stortinget, resulted in a release of the plots in 1997. Standard operations procedure was to avoid logging of allied intelligence flights in the easter parts of Finmark, close to the russian border.
Several contacts in the plots from the Honningsvåg radar was classified as “Zoombie”-contacts (Unknown). One contact was flying over the Kola peninsula, while another was 200 nm east of the Widerøe crash site. NRK have recently found declassified information indicating that the contact 200 nm east of the Widerøe crash site was in fact a RC-135W from Mildenhall, while the contact flying over the Kola Peninsula was a SR-71, also from Mildenhall.
If this information are correct, an intelligence gathering mission was taken place in the area.
None of the information above has ever been published by the previous 2 Mehamn inquiry commissions.
The question about the 2-ship Harriers flying in the area of the accident has not been solved. But given the secrecy around the above mentioned military flights in the area, a low-level probing flight towards the russian border does not seem unlikely.
The Norwegian military intelligence have confirmed that flights of this type was taking place the same week, but were unable to confirm dates.
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4242522.html
For scandinavian readers:
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4241535.html
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4245870.html
By: striker - 10th November 2004 at 20:13
Norwegian national TV, NRK, disclosed new information about radar plots from the Norwegian radar station in Honningsvåg.
The radar plots were classified for a long period, but pressure from the Norwegian parlament, Stortinget, resulted in a release of the plots in 1997. Standard operations procedure was to avoid logging of allied intelligence flights in the easter parts of Finmark, close to the russian border.
Several contacts in the plots from the Honningsvåg radar was classified as “Zoombie”-contacts (Unknown). One contact was flying over the Kola peninsula, while another was 200 nm east of the Widerøe crash site. NRK have recently found declassified information indicating that the contact 200 nm east of the Widerøe crash site was in fact a RC-135W from Mildenhall, while the contact flying over the Kola Peninsula was a SR-71, also from Mildenhall.
If this information are correct, an intelligence gathering mission was taken place in the area.
None of the information above has ever been published by the previous 2 Mehamn inquiry commissions.
The question about the 2-ship Harriers flying in the area of the accident has not been solved. But given the secrecy around the above mentioned military flights in the area, a low-level probing flight towards the russian border does not seem unlikely.
The Norwegian military intelligence have confirmed that flights of this type was taking place the same week, but were unable to confirm dates.
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4242522.html
For scandinavian readers:
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4241535.html
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/4245870.html
By: MSR777 - 10th August 2004 at 20:58
A very sad affair for the friends and relatives if its proven that there was a cover up. Lets hope that if a cover up is proven that someone will make a very rare gesture these days and actually take responsibility and apologise to all concerned. Personally I have to admit that I had not heard of this until now.
By: striker - 10th August 2004 at 20:44
Mehamn inquiry in London
From norwegian national newspaper Verdens Gang, www.vg.no http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=238450
The norwegian Mehamn inquiry commission has been the green light to have an inquiry about the Mehamn accident in London. The commander of the Royal Air Force No.1 squadrion at the time of the acccident, Sir Peter Squire, will let himself be questioned by the commision. The Mehamn inquiry commission are now recieving help from british authorities in finding several of the pilots based at Tomsø Langnes airport during the NATO exercise Alloy Express in 1982.
It’s not known if the inquiry in London will be an open inquiry, as all inquiries in Norway have been.
(Sorry for the bad translation)
By: Ren Frew - 28th February 2004 at 16:39
Yes it certainly sounds like a collision, especially as the harrier requested an landing at the same time.
By: skog - 29th November 2002 at 07:34
RE: Norwegian government launches probe into 20 year old plane crash
There is no evidence to support that they shot it down, however one of the Sea Harriers collided with the Wideroe aircraft, and it broke apart. Well, that’s the theory anyway.. The evidence is quite overwhelming, and the military is doing a typical “pretends it didnt happen” coverup. There’s been talking about this every now and again in Norway, im glad it finally has come up properly, bechause there have been relatives of the dead that have been trying to find out what happened for a very long time.
By: KabirT - 28th November 2002 at 15:42
RE: Norwegian government launches probe into 20 year old plane crash
Very interesting….they are saying RAF Harriers might have shot it down. Check out the thread at AFM.
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November 28, 2002 at 7:33 am