I’m hoping that Capt Bergam might still be here and see this message. I have come acquired a series of photographs from the crash in 1977 including one of Capt Kemp being assisted away from the capsule. If you are still here Capt. Bergam please do message me and I will forward copies of the images on.

Now postponed until early tomorrow morning.

You know what they say about sarcasm…. 🙂

But were they being sarcastic when they said it?

I spoke to my Dad last night and this is how he recalls the story; Newmarket Ambulance station recieved a call from their control room stating that there had been an aircraft crash on Bury Road and that the escape capsule had landed on Bury Hill. The crew on duty went to the capsule and were there within a few minutes (it is only a couple of miles from the location of the old ambulance station to Bury Hill). When they arrived they set about stabalising the two crew members one of whom, the Pilot Captain Scott Lewis, had suffered severe back injuries (it later tuned out he had a severe spinal compression injury). Shortly afterwards a military helicopter arrived and landed. One of the crewmen, the winchman, came from the helicopter with a radio and asked who was in charge. My Dad said he was and the winchman relayed that information via radio to the medical centre at RAF Lakenheath. The helicopter crewman also had a large piece of kit which he put into the capsule which fitted over all the instrument displays and covered them. Whether this was for safety or secrecy or both wasn’t mentioned! The medical centre at Lakenheath advised that a medical team was on route to the scene. However at this point Captain Lewis’ condition started to rapidly deteriorate with a fall in blood pressure. It was decided to remove him from the capsule. It was at this point that the officer at Lakenheath started sending messages that he was to be left in the capsule and that the USAF medical team would remove him. After a heated exchange through the helicopter winchman the Ambulance crew decided he needed to be removed as his condition was continuing to worsen and there was no word on the arrival of the medical team. Using a spinal board and various other bits of kit he was carefully removed and transfered to the helicopter along with the other crewman who had far fewer injuries. The helicopter then flew both crewmembers to RAF Lakenheath along with a MAGPAS doctor who had also arrived on the scene. Several weeks later my Dad was over at RAF Lakenheath and went to reclaim the spinal board and kit that they had used on the two crewmembers. He went to the hospital where the officer in charge told him that the treatment Captain Lewis had received whilst in the capsule and his prompt, and safe, removal made a huge difference to his chances of successful recovery. “This could just be flattery as the Americans were always keen to be complementary when dealing with the Ambulance crews” is what my Dad said about these comments (As a lot of military personel and their families lived off base there was always a fair amount of contact between the ambulance service and the base medical facilities). Dad was later told that Captain Lewis returned to flying duties but was unable to continue on fast jets due to his injuries. Who the Officer was who got rather heated on the day was never discovered I guess whoever he was he chose to keep his mouth shut when he realised that the correct course of action had been taken?

I went to Scaltback school later in the 80’s! I clearly remember the later crash in 1987 as I watched the two F-111s collide over Newmarket before one crashed and the other headed off back towards RAF Lakenheath. The one the crashed came down right next to a friends house and burnt out without causing any real damage to the place itself.

My Dad who was a Paramedic at Newmarket Ambulance Station was first on the scene of the escape capsule and having extacted the crew from the capsule and being in the course of treating them had an ‘interesting’ conversation with a USAF officer who turned up and started ordering everbody about and going on about a button or somesuch in the capsule that would blow the parachute pack off but if used on land would launch the capsule a considerable distance forward. I think this lead to a closer sharing of information between the USAF and the local emergency services.

If anyone is interested I can ask him if he remembers much more about it.

I would be torn between several I’m afraid.

The Mighty Eighth would probably be my ultimate choice as I have basically grown up with it since I discovered a copy in the library in Bury St Edmunds in about 1985 when I was ten.

Runners up would be Chickenhawk by Robert Mason, Air Raid by Michael Bowyer and Target Berlin by Jeffrey Ethell and Alfred Price.