twisterkev,

Thanks for posting your footage, it’s amazing that 20 years later I’m still seeing new pictures and video of this event. I heard that the only injury was one of the Belgian C-130 crew who twisted or broke an ankle jumping off (sliding down the side) of the C-130 as ericmunk has mentioned.

David Kavangh’s picture is a great capture and shows Alexander Beschastonov’s Zvezda K-36 ejection seat just after man/seat separation. It is upside down directly above the main fireball and you can see the drogue chute directly above the seat. Beschastonov would be just out of frame at the top left of this picture. Sergey Tresvyatsky’s MiG lost most of its left wing and rolled onto its back and he ejected straight down. If you put a stopwatch to the accident footage you’ll see that he initiated ejection about 3.1 seconds after impact. He got out first and saw Beschastonov’s MiG in a fireball. Beschastonov was in the middle of the fireball and couldn’t see his orientation so he pulled the loud handle because he knew he was low, rolling, and on fire, and things weren’t likely to get any better.

I’ve got some great footage of Tresvyatsky on the ground with his helmet on his left arm and as soon as he steps out of his harness he reaches down to one of the pockets in the left leg of his flight suit and pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. (His hands weren’t even shaking!) Then he looked around like he was looking for Alexander.

Several years ago I heard that one of the pilots involved in the Fairford accident had died in a crash while testing a Russian civilian aircraft. I’ve not been able to find any details regarding this. Does anyone know more?

The animated series “Dogfights” which aired on the History Channel in 2007 and 2008 can be found online and in Season 2 Episode 2 they interview German and American pilots and aircrew who were involved in some of the ramming incidents. Very interesting and very good animations that recreate some of those events.

The title is Dogfights: The Luftwaffe’s Deadliest Mission – S02E02

Paul I think you were correct in your initial assessment. I believe it is a Blenheim. When I play with the levels in Photoshop the glass topped nose in front of the cockpit stands out and the tall turret in the rear is exactly where it should be on the Blenheim. The picture is so low res I can’t get much detail from it, but I can easily take a vintage black and white image and blur it down to look exactly like your image. I know you said you didn’t win the picture but is that the highest resolution you can provide? With just a little more resolution we should be able to see the antenna mast between the cockpit and the top turret. Also the engines on the Blenheim can appear more underslung in low light or dark images, and I think that is what is happening here. I don’t know anything about what units flew it when or where, but I don’t see anything visually that can disqualify this as being a Blenheim. With just a little more resolution it would be easy to say for sure.

Here is a link from 2011 regarding Eugene Ely’s first landing aboard a ship and the 100th anniversary of naval aviation. Some interesting pictures.

http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2011/01/the-100th-anniversary-of-marine-aviation.html

All 5 of the Japanese midget subs have been accounted for.

Number #18 was located by the U.S. Navy over 50 years ago outside the harbor entrance and was returned to Japan where it is on display at a Naval Academy. It had been sunk by a depth charge and never fired its torpedoes.

Number #19 ran aground and was captured in 1941 and was taken on a tour of the United States to raise money for war bonds. It is still on display in the U.S.

Number #20 was attacked by the USS Ward and hit by her deck gun before the Japanese air attack started on the morning of December 7th. It was able to escape and sunk outside the harbor. It was found a decade ago.

Number #22 made it into the harbor and fired both torpedoes but they are believed to have missed their intended targets. It was sunk in the harbor during the battle with its 2 crewmen. It was dug up and moved a few times but is still buried at Pearl with the crew.

And just a few years ago the 5th and final missing sub was positively identified mixed in amongst other U.S. Navy wreckage outside of the harbor. The torpedo tubes were both empty and it is believed that this sub made it into the harbor and fired both torpedoes. It is thought that the sub then made it to a quiet part of the west loch and was scuttled by its crew. In 1944 that area of Pearl had a large fleet of LSTs that were being prepared for the invasion of the Marianas and somehow an explosion occurred that set off fuel and ammunition stores and sank several of the LSTs and killed and wounded hundreds of sailors. During the salvage operations to clear the loch they recovered the scuttled fifth midget sub and hauled it away and dumped it with the other wreckage from the LSTs, a few miles outside of Pearl. This disaster was classified until 1960 so the public didn’t know about it during the war and it was largely forgotten. The stern section of the sub was found about 20 years ago, and was probably severed from the rest of the sub by its scuttling charge. The remaining pieces were found more recently, and it still lies on the bottom a few miles from Pearl Harbor.

I’m not sure how significant the following pics will be, nevertheless they appear to show the Terrain Avoidance Warning System (TAWS) indicating a fault and switched off. They were taken several hours before the ill fated flight:

That picture also shows left and right generators off because they are connected to ground power. Note the EXT PWR switch shows AVAL and ON. This is what you would expect to see when the jet is sitting on the tarmac. Most systems are powered down at this point. Normal.

Here’s a great picture from 1998 of C-FETB in the hangar at Quebec. Check out the snout on that bird! What engine/prop combination was that?

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pratt-&-Whitney/Boeing-720-023B/0084108/L/