ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 158024
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 May 1967 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Gloster Javelin FAW.9R |
| Owner/operator: | 64 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | XH708 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Johore Bahru, 10 miles NW of RAF Tengah -
 Singapore
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Tengah, Singapore (TGA/WSAT) |
| RAF Tengah, Singapore (TGA/WSAT) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Written off 30/5/1967: During a formation join up for a practice flypast, six Javelin FAW.9Rs of 64 Squadron, RAF, were involved in a streamed take off from Tengah, in pairs at 12 second intervals; once airborne and formating, XH896 (#4 in the formation) was struck from below by XH708 (#3 in the formation). Both aircraft crashed ten miles north west of Tengah, Singapore. The crew of XH708 were killed:
Pilot: Flying Officer William Brendan Kay, aged 21 [a New Zealand national, from Amberley, North Canterbury]
Navigator/Photographer: L/AC Corporal Kenneth Ashbee
The crew of Javelin XH896 - Flying Officer P. McKellar and Senior Air Craftsman M. Lokanadan - ejected safely. It should be noted that the two non-pilots in the back seat of each Javelin were NOT air crew, but ground crew, taken aloft partly as a "thank you" and partly to take air-to-air photographs of the formation flypast.
Per eyewitness report:
"...I was at Tengah on the day the two 64 Squadron Javelins, XH896 & XH708, collided and crashed off Johore Bahru on 30th May 1967. 64 Squadron were being disbanded and they decided to have a mass formation “good bye” flypast. Ground crew were given an opportunity to take the nav’s seat as part of the flypast. A reward for a job well done!
Whilst forming up XH896 struck the tail plane of XH708, which disintegrated and the aircraft spun and crashed almost vertically into the jungle in Johore, neither pilot or passenger ejected and sadly, both were killed on impact.
XH896 also suffered terminal damage but both pilot and “erk” managed to eject safely. This aircraft crashed into the jungle within half a mile of XH708.
How do I know all this? Well, I was an SNCO on 45 Squadron and was asked to lead a team of hastily gathered airmen to secure and guard the crash sites of both aircraft. It was RAF policy that crash sites could not be visited by anyone connected with the unit to which the aircraft belonged until the investigation was completed.
We were led to the crash site by the fire crew who had attended the sites very quickly after the crashes. They had “made” a path through the jungle/rubber trees with their 6 wheel fire engines. We set up camp near the crash site of XH708, it was just a massive smoking hole in the ground. Both ejection seats had ejected on impact and we could see the remains of the chutes strewn through the surrounding trees. Any remains and the actual seats had been removed by the fire crash crews. By some miracle an Atap hut some 5 feet away from the crash crater was completely unscathed as the blast of the explosion had travelled in the opposite direction, to the relief of the rubber tapper and his family that lived there.
XH896 had belly landed, scything a path through the rubber trees but for some reason it had not burnt out. We found both of the seats nearby."
Brendan Kay's Air Force memorial headstone can be found in the Waimairi Cemetery, Christchurch. New Zealand. Plot reference RC48/40.
Sources:
1. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1967.htm
2. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1032174/
3. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/Gloster_Javelin.htm]
4. http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/wattisham/partthree/xh708.htm
5. http://rafforum.activeboard.com/t48086436/two-javelins-of-64-squadron-collided-at-raf-tengah-30051967/?page=1&sort=newestFirst
6. http://97th.org.uk/rip.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Aug-2013 23:50 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 06-Aug-2013 14:14 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Country, Narrative] |
| 06-Aug-2013 14:17 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 19-Nov-2014 08:15 | Dr Octor | Updated [Operator, Location] |
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