Xelex
Registered:1210353468 Posts: 63
Posted 1485907966
#1
Does anyone have the date and serial number of an F-100 that crashed on the Nellis Range, possibly in 1968 or 1969? The pilot, Lt. Robert E. Wilcox, ejected safely. On that same day, another F-100 piloted by Lt. Donald Murgatroyd was damaged in a landing accident at Indian Springs AFB.
AAIR
Super Moderators
Registered:1165121562 Posts: 633
Posted 1486138627
#2
The date was March 8, 1960. Murgatroy was in F-100C 53-1770 at Indian Springs and Wilcox was in F-100C 54-1747 at Groom Lake, NV.
__________________ Craig AAIR, Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research http://www.aviationarchaeology.com
WaltW
Registered:1225076201 Posts: 391
Posted 1486174042
#3
I guess you can scratch going after the Wilcox jet...
Xelex
Registered:1210353468 Posts: 63
Posted 1486177018
#4
Thanks, Craig. Much appreciated. Is there an accident report available?
AAIR
Super Moderators
Registered:1165121562 Posts: 633
Posted 1486191894
#5
e-mail sent.
__________________ Craig AAIR, Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research http://www.aviationarchaeology.com
ThunderPigC130
Registered:1283230440 Posts: 177
Posted 1505112410
#6
My interest was piqued by the groom lake mention, but as we all know open sources often get the details of a mishap very, very wrong so I FOIAed the report.
Got the report last week. Sure enough, the AC crashed 3.5 miles north of the lake after the engine blew and the pilot was trying to glide to the lake bed. The mission was a practice bombing mission using MK76s.
I had always thought that the groom lake base had been in continuous operation since the U2 testing, but turns out that the base closed down after the U2 program, then went back to just being part of the nellis range for a few years. From pete merlin:
The airfield at Groom Lake opened in the summer of 1955 and closed in the summer of 1957. The [Mention of a] "prepared runway" in the report suggest to me that the F-100 pilot was probably attempting to land on one of the airstrips marked on the surface of the dry lakebed … for the U-2. … There are several old bombing targets in the valley north of Groom Lake on the way toward Rachel.
The cause of the mishap was FOD. A tool had been left inside the AC during maintainence and managed to work its way into the engine during the pull up after bomb release.
Also; I find of interest: The mission started out as a 4 ship, but number 4 had to abort and return to nellis because of an afterburner problem before they even got to the target area. Then when preparing for the dive bomb run number 3 also had an afterburner problem and had to abort. Then while pulling off target, number two had his engine destroyed by FOD. So out of 4 F100s, only one completed the mission without incident!
gunhog11
Registered:1281304278 Posts: 49
Posted 1510740770
#7
Like they say for 4-ship formations and hard breakdowns: Brief 4 jets Start 3 jets Taxi 2 jets Launch 1 jet
WaltW
Registered:1225076201 Posts: 391
Posted 1510755982
#8
With the F-100s horrible safety record it should be: Launch 1 jet Recover 0 jets.
DaveTrojan
Moderators
Registered:1167597086 Posts: 2,393
Posted 1510809732
#9
The accident rate for the F-100 in 1960 CY60 There were 94 class A accidents, rate 23.16 with 26 pilots killed they were improving, because just two years earlier CY58 there were 168 class A accidents, rate 37.57 with 47 pilots killed For the full list Link:http://www.safety.af.mil/Portals/71/documents/Aviation/Aircraft%20Statistics/F-100.pdf