ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 59366
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| Date: | Sunday 30 November 1952 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Republic F-84E-1-RE Thunderjet |
| Owner/operator: | 513th FBSqn /406th FBWg USAF |
| Registration: | 49-2071 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | English Channel, off Dover, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent (MSE/EGMH) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Republic F-84E-1-RE Thunderjet 49-2071, 513th Fighter Bomber Squadron. 406th Fighter Bomber Wing USAF: Written off (destroyed) when ditched in the English Channel off Dover, Kent, on 30.11.52 after an in-flight engine fire. The pilot - Raymond L Dennany, USAF - ejected safely, and was rescued.
According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("East Kent Times - Wednesday 03 December 1952)
"HELICOPTER DOCTOR AGAIN
Lowered on 100 ft. Cable
For the second time in ten days Captain John C. Stritch, medical officer at Manston U.S.A.F. base, was lowered by a wire cable from a hovering helicopter to tend an American pilot rescued from the sea after a Thunderjet had plunged in flames.
The rescue and helicopter episode took place off Dover at dusk on Sunday, after one of four Thunderjets on a routine mission had dived into the sea on fire. Crowds earlier saw the flaming aircraft turn seawards and plunge steeply into the water after the pilot had been plummeted through the air by his ejector seat apparatus. Parachuting into the sea, the pilot reached his one-man rubber dinghy and was shortly afterwards hauled on board a Norwegian freighter.
Answering a radioed message for medical aid, Dr. Stritch left Manston in the helicopter - the dinghy had earlier been sighted by U.S.A.F. air-sea-rescue Albatross amphibians - and with a gale blowing was lowered by wire cable from the helicopter winch as the craft hovered 100 ft above the freighter's rolling decks. Because of the ship's roll the helicopter could not go lower than about 100 ft., and some astute handling resulted in the base doctor dropping between the freighter's swaying masts.
Dr. Stritch found the airman suffering from shock, and after treatment, both pilot and doctor went ashore by Dover lifeboat, and returned to Manston by ambulance. Meanwhile the helicopter, which had landed on the beach in readiness to take the pilot to Manston in an emergency, returned to base.
Ten days earlier Dr. Stritch was lowered from the helicopter to Margate Jetty, ran to a waiting boat, and was dashed to a Dutch motor vessel which had picked up two American airmen who had parachuted into the water when their Thunderjets burst into flames, and crashed six miles off North Foreland".
Sources:
1. East Kent Times - Wednesday 3 December 1952
2. USAFE Tactical Units in the United Kingdom in the Cold War 1950 to 1992 By Doug Gordon
3. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1949.html
4. http://www.accident-report.com/Yearly/1952/5211.html
5. http://www.forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/F-84.html
6. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=20361.0
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Jan-2014 23:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Feb-2021 20:13 | Paco | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
| 30-Mar-2021 19:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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