Back in 1979 (before I was born) a Luftwaffe F-104G crashed at RNAS Yeovilton Air Day. From what I was told (although I am not saying this is correct) the aeroplane’s tail hit the ground coming out of a loop, before getting airborne again and crashing a couple of miles away from the airfield.
The pilot was killed π
It was a German Navy F104 that crashed, on the Friday before the main show. It stalled on approach and “landed” short of the runway in the farmers field before careeing through the boundary fence. Crash team arrived on the Saturday in a Transall and 2 TF104s…
Not a crash, but another fatality at Yeovilton in 1975. RAF Harrier pilot was exiting aircraft and somehow fired the ejector seat sending it and him some 200′ into the air. He had just taxied in following his display and the aircraft was parked in full public view by the old ATC tower ramp.
I too was a witness to the Mentor crash at Mildenhall. I didn’t see what went wrong but I heard the engine surge and looked round as the aircraft hit the ground. It seemed an age before anybody got there.
Too low following IIRC a stall turn. A/C impacted quite close to some parked KC135s. Pilot had been requested by ATC to “fill in” for a few moments and thus introduced the “only fly your practiced sequence rules” for display flying – no more, no less.. There is a video of the incident on youtube. Being a small aircraft and there being no expolosion, I’m sure many in the crowd had no idea what had happened.
Mildenhall, I think it may have been 1985 ish, 7 Fiat G91Rs of Frecce Tricolori took off, did their display, no problem !, we noticed only six landed ? nothing was mention on PA ! all continued. Read about it in paper next day. IIRC pilot was killed. RIP. Keith.
This happened in 1979 (re-equipped with the MB339 in 1982) Solo pilot hit a tree whilst re-positioning for a manouvere. It took the USAFE a looong time to allow the Frecce back to their display programmes. I think the next time may have been Ramstein in 1988….
I recall an RAF Phantom failing to come out of a loop practicng for the BoB airday the following day at RAF Abingdon
I saw this too, tragic event. As an enthusiast this was even more upsetting as the show was cancelled and Abingdon had a superb array of US Navy aircraft in their static display…
I also witnessed the loss of the RF4C at Brawdy in ’86.
When I was very young ( early 1970s ish) I saw a Turbulent go in at a show but I just cant rememeber where – Gaydon maybe?? Anyone else recall this? I know that it made me feel really sick at the time…
Yes there were a lot more accidents back “then” but then again there were a hell of a lot more airshows.:(
I’m not old enough to know those displays Roger.:D
and the best of all the Dutch Starfighter that appeared nearly every year for at least four years on the trot. Every year it used to arrive on the Thursday before the show in the afternoon and always remember the howl as it used to do it’s rehersal on the Thursday and Friday.
Brilliant!!!!
Dutch ‘104 only appeared at the ’76 & ’78 events. The special anniversary marked display jet in ’78 unfortunately went u/s for the show day….:mad: In ’77 an NF5A took the honours in appalling weather. A Starfighter had been at the Gaydon show (which Coventry effectively replaced) in 1975. Display pilot was Paul van de Werf IIRC and was the demo pilot from 1973 – 1979.
If you look at Boscombe Down on Google Earth, you can quite clearly see Snoopy parked on one of the hardstandings in front of the hangars, the nose gives it away slightly, I’ve been past Marshalls many times but never noticed it.
It must have appeared at airshows in the past, I have a vague recollection of seeing it at Fairford in 93, was it ever at Mildenhall Air Fete.
She has appeared at several shows and in 1984 actually flew at a number of events – Mildenhall, Brize and Fairford (USAF open day not IAT) and Abingdon in 1985. Obviously in those days she was based at Farnborough.
Here she is at Mildenhall-

Don’t think this is the last flying Jaguar as I believe ETPS still have XX145 at Boscombe Down in ‘raspberry ripple scheme?
Retired mid-2006. The Grey T2A XX833 is indeed the last British military Jag flying.
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Rumour and gossip simply shows nothing more than ignorance of the facts and can jeopardise any potential sponsorship talks – like they have done on one previous occasion. π‘
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Then even if there is no news let us know!! Non information about a subject we all would love to support (i.e. no dedicated donation fund etc) leads us to gossip and specualte -its human nature and so hard to stop on what is after all a general, public, open forum…


Blue skies…
A very rare airshow appearance, St Mawgan 1986


Thankyou for the link – its great to see a plane early on in a very long career -when these shots of 65-0970 were taken my father was working for the Crown Agents so his reason for being on the base would be to learn about some new equipment that he could sell to Asian /African governments to help them spend their British foreign aid payments – perhaps even something to do with this plane & its equipment.
So I guess the rarity of the C-133 is the reason for the photograph at a time when my father normally took only family shots. it is 56-2001 -is it the first of a particular production batch I wonder…..
Thankyou all for your replies that help me enjoy my fatherΒ΄s pix so much more…-and clearly post war French planes are not that easy even for experts to identify when flying;)
You are welcome. Re the C133 serial number, yes is the simple answer. The USAF serial system is derived form the early ’40s system of allocating a fiscal year (the year that the aircraft was ordered, or money allocated to its production – not the year it entered service). The individual number for the aircraft has to be 4 digits long. Anything less than 1000 has 0’s installed to make a 4 digit number. So simply, 56-2001 is the 2001st aircraft ordered in fiscal year 1956. The HC130 would have been the 970th ordered in 1965….
Re your last sentence, the Flamant (correct spelling) is a vastly different beast to a Martinet π :diablo:
Never saw a “live” Cargomaster. One was booked for the first Air Tattoo at Greenham Common in 1973 but it failed to show. π
I find the Martinet more interesting than the Neptune. Must be the first photo I’ve ever seen of one flying. For those who dont know (or care) the Martinet is a French postwar version of the Siebel 204.
Martin
Can anyone confirm the Martinet is a version of the Siebel 204, its a little unclear from this thread π :diablo:
65-0970 is still alive and well ….
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6044168&nseq=3
The Fulton recovery system (demonstrated at several airshows through the ’80s) was abandoned in the early ’90s. I would say the pics of the HC130 were at RAF Woodbridge were they were based with the 67ARRS (later SOS) from 1970 until closure in 1992
Lovely pic. Is XS577 the Sea Vixen that’s now at Gatwick in target tug colours? If so, great to see her in front line colours.
No, 577 was scrapped in ’96 IIRC and the nose section moved to Bruntingthorpe. Its the same one in drone colours in my earlier post. I think its gone abroad now – Switzerland??! :confused: The one at Gatwick is the other a/c in my post – XS587/G-VIXN. Originally this aircraft was to be repainted red and flown with the other red fleet of Mike Carlton from Hurn. Thankfully this didnt happen and it has been preserved in one piece in that super scheme.
They cancelled them (allegedly because the high level tail & booms masked the engines, which made them no fun as target drones).
At least one non-drone did fly in RAF markings at one of the research establishments though (complete with fin flash)
Due to a very complex and expensive conversion required, only around 5 (of a planned fleet of 20 +) Vixens were give “drone” status. I’ve never seen any photographic evidence but they were used as unpiloted drone pilot trainers at Llanbedr, rather than being used as actual targets themselves. They also performed chase duties and for DACT with fighters using the Valley missile camp. When I visited in the late 80s, early 90s, only XP924 and sister ship XS577 were the only 2 on base, though ‘577 hadnt flown in a long while and ‘924s last operatinola flight was in ’91 some time. I believe only 1 (XS587) became a TT2 suitably adorned in raspberry ripple and target tug stripes – gorgous!


What was the training she did with Typhoons?
Detatched to Coningsby last year for some DACT. Allegedly gave the new boys a run for their money in the turning and burning stakes.. Theres also that story by Ian Black was it?? when he encountered said beast whilst still in servcie at Llanbedr. He was in a Lightning performing missile trials on the Aberporth range and came behind the Vixen for an easy kill but it promptly turned inside him and could have done so for a lot longer than the Lightnings fuel would allow for him to prove otherwise:diablo: …..
There is of course one ex-Argentine UH-1H flying in the United Kingdom.
A certain covert organisation still fly the A109s that were “obtained” in 1982..