1976 — Aug 28, USAF crash, severe thunderstorm rips wing off, ~Peterborough, UK — 18

— 18 ASN. Accident description. USAF Lockheed C-141A-LM Starlifter, Peterborough UK.
— 18 Baugher, Joseph F. 1967 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision.
— 18 Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, PA. “Her last recruit….” 8-31-1976, C1.
— 18 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p.121-122.
— 18 Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “List of Known Dead.” 8-31-1976, p. 7.
— 18 Redlands Daily Facts, CA. “Sabotage ruled out in two USAF…crashes.” 8-30-1976, p. 1.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network: “Starlifter 67-0006 had a recent history of weather radar problems. It had been written up by crew members eight times previously. On the day of the accident the maintenance crewman, unaware of the previous problems, checked the radar. It seemed to be working, so it was signed off as ‘Ops Check Okay’.

“Shortly after takeoff from McGuire AFB, the crew noticed that the radar was inoperative. Since severe weather was not forecast, they elected to continue to Mildenhall, UK. Two hours after takeoff, British forecasters issued a SIGMET for ‘Moderate to occasional severe clear air turbulence from FL240 to FL400’, but the crew never got this report. Four hours after takeoff the crew updates the weather forecast. They receive a weather forecast of ‘3/8 at 3000 feet, 4/8 at 4000 feet with an intermittent condition of wind 030/12 gusting 22, visibility five miles in thunderstorms, 2/8 at 2000 feet 5/8 at 2500 feet’. The crew then attempted to get an update one hour from Mildenhall, but was unable to contact the base. Another station reported ‘4/8 Thunderstorms tops to FL260’.

“During the enroute decent they entered the clouds. At FL 150, they requested vectors around the weather. Because the primary radar was inoperative, the controller advised that he would have difficulty providing avoidance vectors. The aircraft then entered the leading edge of a very strong line of thunderstorm cells. One estimate indicated they encountered a 100 mph downward vertical airshaft. The right wing had failed, followed quickly by the upper half of the vertical stabilizer, and the four engines.” (Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Air Force, Lockheed C-141A-LM Starlifter, Peterborough, UK, 28 Aug 1976.)

Baugher: “Lockheed C-141A-LM Starlifter….0006 (c/n 300-6257, 438 MAW) w/o Aug 28, 1976 Peterborough, UK on approach to RAF Mildenhall. Severe thunderstorm ripped No 4 engine off the wing and the rest of the aircraft disintegrated. All 18 aboard killed (ASN).” (Baugher, Joseph F. 1967 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision.)

Gero: “Date: 28 August 1976 (c. 12:40)….

“Operated by the Military Airlift Command (MAC), the jet transport crashed and burned in a field while preparing to land at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, located near Bury St Edmunds. All 18 American service personnel aboard, who included four passengers in addition to the crew of 14, perished.

“The C-141 had been on an airlift training mission from McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, US, to Torrejon de Ardoz Air Base, in Spain, when it broke up in flight and plummeted to earth about 25 miles (40km) north-west of the RAF facility, which was an en-route stop.

“Prior to the accident, 67-0006 had requested radar vectors around an area of severe thunderstorm activity, to which the ground controller replied, ‘There’s no way I can get you around it’. Subsequently, the crew attempted to navigate visually between storm cells, and in their last radio transmission, they reported turning back towards the base, on to a heading of 140 degrees, and requested a precision radar (PAR) approach to Runway 11.

“At the moment it suffered structural failure, the cleanly-configured transport was at an approximate height of 9,000ft (2,700m) and flying in a south-south-easterly direction, with all four engines, its starboard wing, horizontal stabilizer and upper half of its vertical tail fin separating from the aircraft. Some 15 miles (25km) south-south-west of the crash site, it was raining, with a broken overcast at 4,000ft (1,200m), scattered stratus clouds down to about 1,000ft (300m) and maximum cloud tops at 26,000ft (8,000m). The thunderstorm itself was capable of extreme turbulence. Its radar track indicated that the C-141 had intercepted the leading edge of the storm, actually the inflow or up-draught area, which would create the greatest turbulence potential. Whether this condition led directly to the destruction of the aircraft was not revealed in the investigative report. However, it was noted that due to the lack of evidence, a lightning strike apparently did not precipitate the break-up sequence.” (Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, pp. 121-122.)

Newspapers:

Aug 28: “Peterborough, England (AP) — A U.S. Air Force jet transport plane crashed near here today and an Air Force spokesman said all 17 persons aboard were believed to have been killed. A U.S. Air Force spokesman at Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base in County Suffolk said the plane was a four-engine C141 Starlifter on a flight from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Mildenhall. The spokesman said the plane was carrying a crew of 13 and four passengers. ‘Our initial reports are that all aboard were killed,’ he said….’The plane is completely burned out and there could not possibly be any survivors,’ said one witness of the crash, which occurred near the village of Thornley, in Cambridgeshire.” (Nashua Telegraph, NH. “17 Dead In Crash Of Air Force Jet.” 8-28-1976, p. 1.)

Aug 30: “Mildenhall, England (UPI)…. The…huge freighter-troop carrier, on a regular flight from McGuire to Mildenhall Air Force Base, broke up during a thunderstorm and crashed in flames in a sugar-beet field about 80 miles north of London, killing the 14 crew members and four passengers aboard….

“David Taylor, 53, a witness to the British crash, said he believed the plane was hit by lightning at about 2,000 feet. ‘It came down very slowly, covered in flames. It seemed to come apart in midair. When it hit the ground there was an explosion, which I assume was the petrol tanks bursting,’ he said. Linda Nobb said she was watching the lightning flashes with her small son when she saw the plane. ‘It looked just like a ball of fire coming from the sky…’” (Redlands Daily Facts, CA. “Sabotage ruled out in two USAF Starlifter crashes.” 8-30-1976, p. 1.)

Aug 31: “S Sgt. Jean Perrin…the mother of three young children, died Saturday not far from where she was brought up in the crash of an Air Force jet transport plane. The WAC recruiter was returning to her parents’ home on emergency leave because of illnesses in the family. She was among 18 persons who perished when the C-141 Starlifter plunged into a beet field near Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base after it apparently was struck by lightning….” (Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, PA. ‘Her last recruit gave her that ‘back-home’ feeling.” 8-31-1976, C1.)

Aug 31: “McGuire AFB, N.J. (UPI) – The U.S. Air Force Sunday [Aug 29] issued the following list of passengers and crew members killed Saturday in two crashes of Air Force transport planes in Britain and Greenland.

“All 18 passengers aboard the Starlifter transport that crashed in Mildenhall, England, were killed. Of the 27 passengers aboard the Starlifter that crashed in Soendre Stroemfjord Greenland, 21 were killed.
BRITAIN

— Capt. John R. McNally, pilot, Worcester, Mass.
— Capt. Leslie C. Brissette, copilot, Edgewater Park, N.J.
— 1st Lt. Daniel G. Lynch, copilot, Toms River, N.J.
— Capt. Dale C. Johnson, copilot, Norwalk, Conn.
— Capt. Robert A. Eigenrauch, navigator, Valley Cottage, N.Y.
— Capt. Kenneth M. Burkhart, navigator, Lambertville, N.J.
— Maj. Alessandro Corona, navigator, Holland, Pa.
— M. Sgt. Richard M. Cleven, flight engineer, Woodmere, N.Y.
— T. Sgt. Gaston J. Vargas, flight engineer, Kendall Park, N.J.
— S. Sgt. Harry R. Dempsey, flight engineer, Plainridge, N.J.
— S. Sgt. John H. Blackley, loadmaster, Ridgefield, N.J.
— S. Sgt. Glenn K. Haberbach, loadmaster, Union, N.J.
— Maj. Edwin C. Payne, additional crew member, McGuire AFB, N.J.
— 1st Lt. William G. Martin, copilot, Baldwin L.I.
— Capt. Charles Barlow, passenger, Pope AFB, N.C.
— Capt. Olan Melton, passenger, Fayetteville, N.C.
— T. Sgt. Bruce Kearns, passenger Fayetteville, N.C.
— Jean Perrin, unknown rank, WAC, passenger, Bristol, Pa.”

(Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “List of Known Dead.” 8-31-1976, p. 7.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Air Force, Lockheed C-141A-LM Starlifter, Peterborough, UK, 28 Aug 1976. Accessed 3-3-2012 at:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19760828-2

Baugher, Joseph F. 1967 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-16-2012 revision. Accessed 3-2-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1967.html

Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, PA. “Her last recruit gave her that ‘back-home’ feeling.” 8-31-1976, C1. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=24997741

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

Nashua Telegraph, NH. “17 Dead In Crash Of Air Force Jet.” 8-28-1976, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=71717076

Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “List of Known Dead [USAF Crashes, UK and Greenland].” 8-31-1976, 7. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=141746296

Redlands Daily Facts, CA. “Sabotage ruled out in two USAF Starlifter crashes.” 8-30-1976, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=156981497