ZA715 Chinook HC1 crash – Falklands 1986

Hello Katie. Have you tried   Military Aviation – PPRuNe Forums?  A lot of current and past RAF members post there, and I’ve seen a few requests similar to yours in the past.

Hi Katie

I was told that one of my Airframe Instructers at Halton was subsequently killed in that crash but with the passage of time I can’t recall his name unfortunately so not sure if your Uncle was the chap in question. RIP

John

Hi there. I am very interested to know more. My uncle David Vincent browning was sadly killed in the horrific accident in the faulklands I have seen his name mentioned above. I was only 2 when he passed away. Does any one remember him? 

Wow, that is incredible!

Just to let you know a Falkland Islander has just organised for this memorial to be placed at the site of the crash. A fantastic effort.

Thanks for that 1st hand account. It is obviously still a very vivid memory. RIP all those who were lost.

Thank you all for this thread old as it is, I boarded this flight moments before the crash, I didnt know any of the crew but I knew Sgt Toyah (as we called him) we trained martial arts together in the makeshift gym on mount Alice.  I was boarding the aircraft at MT Alice early hours not sure of the time but it was a white out blizzard 4 ft snow on the ground. We (AD det) were told to get back off as the aircraft was flying re-enforcements to Byron Heights. Moments later I heard via radio that the flight had struck MT Young en-route to Byron, sadly loosing crew, passengers and many injured. We made our way to the site to assist, I have never forgot that incident and can only praise the RAF cutting crew who worked tirelessly that night to help the survivors.  My condolences to all families and friends.

AVBowd,

If you see this, would you mind sending me a private message please?  You dont appear to have that option selected.

Many Thanks,

Gary

AVBowd…

I had the pleaure of working with Wayne several times.  He was a great guy to work with.

I had left helicopters in 1985 and was gutted to hear of Waynes passing..

If you ever around Swindon area let me know…

kind regards

Arfur

ex JHSU

Really lovely to read your comments about Wayne Hopson,  I am his daughter,  was only 5 months old when he sadly died, it’s really lovely to read how loved he was. Stumbled across this website by accident. 

Glad to help anybody that has served our country in the Forces; I just wish it could have been under happier circumstances.

Just re-visiting this thread I started almost 5 years ago now! I am so glad to see that others have found it of use and contributed to it

I also knew Wayne quite well, we were both stationed at RAF Gütersloh, I was on 4 Sqn Harriers and we had many memorable parties at each other’s houses. I was honoured to attend his funeral and see him put to rest in Lyneham village. Seems hard to believe it was almost 30 years ago.
Cheers,
Jules Mitchell (ex C/T) now living in Calgary, Alberta.

Thank you so much everybody for your information.

Leeanne, if you register on pprune.org and ask in the military section you will probably find a lot more info from his colleagues.

This is the link

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew-57/

Thank you for the Information, I have been able to find the location of his memorial stone at the National Arboretum and also where Wayne was buried through the records held at the Arboretum.

Was on the rescue party on that fatefully day will help if I can

What a great thread and result….. well done everybody.
Goes to show that the older threads on this forum can still prove to be invaluable to some folk !

Rob

The soldier from the Gurkha Rifles was almost certainly Sergeant Toyabahadur Gurung who is either buried or commemorated at Park Cemetery, Aldershot. I ran a search against the Armed Forces Memorial for 13 May 1986 and it gave the two already named, Sgt Gurung and Corporal Ian James Nicholson, RAF, who was stationed at Binbrook.

Leeanne, if you register on pprune.org and ask in the military section you will probably find a lot more info from his colleagues.

This is the link

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew-57/

Thank you so much for this information, Wayne was a lovely person and I have been trying to find out more for a long time. I will now be able to visit.
Once again thank you
Regards
Leeanne

Wayne Hopson

Gary,

only just got back in the Forum…

I had the pleasure of working with Wayne for a while.
I was a “hooker” not the type you may be thinking..
worked on underslung loads for Chinooks…

had the tasked of rigging and hooking the load under the mighty chopper…did quite a few tasks with him and fellow crew members..

i found out that Wayne is buried near RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire…
if you wanted to pay your respects in person

Best rgds

Arfur