Date:	Wednesday 5 June 1974
Time:
Type:	Hawker Siddeley AV-8A Harrier
Owner/operator:	VMA-542 USMC
Registration:	158948
MSN:	712109/3
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Camp Lejeune, Onslow County, near Jacksonville, North Carolina -   United States of America
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:	Camp Lejeune MCAS, North Carolina
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Crashed on landing. Aircraft came down at approx 34°35'34.08"N, 77°20'32.60"W

Obituary:

CAPT. RICHARD H. BRIGGS
Died: June 5, 1974
Members of Congress and military brass were watching as Briggs, 28, brought his AV-8A in for a landing during a military exercise near Camp Lejeune, N.C.

His plane banked, rolled, then crashed. He didn't survive an ejection into a wooded area, said his widow, Marv Briggs. Investigators blamed pilot error and noted he was flying on five hours' sleep.

An experienced A-4 Skyhawk pilot, he had just 44 hours of flight time in the Harrier. His logbook showed he flew 6.2 hours in the month before his death and 10.2 hours the month before that, his widow said. His wing commander used the incident to write that Harrier pilots needed to fly 17 to 20 hours a month to stay proficient.

Marv Briggs remembered him as a "warm, funny and kind man." A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, he flew in the first Harrier squadron trained in this country. "He was very excited about the possibilities of that plane," she said. "It was a whole new part of aviation."

http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6725
http://web.archive.org/web/20170818203747/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/project/year_pages/1974.htm#jun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harrier_Jump_Jet_family_losses#US_operated_Harriers
http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries20.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Sep-2010 14:30	ASN Archive
02-Aug-2011 11:30	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Dec-2019 16:37	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]