ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 82620
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| Date: | Wednesday 5 March 1980 |
| Time: | 19:30 |
| Type: |  McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR2 |
| Owner/operator: | 29 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | XV436 |
| MSN: | 3183 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire |
| RAF Connigsby, Lincolnshire | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Missed the arrestor cable during an emergency landing at night at Coningsby, Lincs, following hydraulic failure. The crew ejected (Flight Lieutenant Andy C. Cairncross and Flight Lieutenant Nigel B. Randall) ejected and XV436 ran off the runway and into a field.
Per eyewitness report: "...Blimey was it really 5th March 1980 ??? I was on duty with 228 OCU at Coningsby, a Liney, all scuffed toe caps and holes in the knees of my Number 2 Trousers! Instead of Station Guard Duties we OCU Lineys did Fire Picket for a week, spending our night with the Fire Crew. I was on duty that night XV436 went bouncing off the end of the runway
The damaged Mk9 fire engines wasn't caused exactly as you state in your Journal; we all scrambled to our vehicles and lined them up on the small track from outside the Fire Section to the runway in line astern. As the very unwell but still Mighty Toom [Phantom] passed our noses and there was the double bang of Martin Bakers finest working to their usual perfection, over the radio came the call from Crash 1 of 'Go Go Go' followed by someone else shouting 'Stop Stop Stop'. That came from ATC, I think, as the the crew were still dangling beneath the silk.
Unfortunately Crash 1 and the First Mk 9 fire engine stopped but the second Mk 9 with young SAC Howie didn't by means of its own brakes and smacked into the rear of the first one. I ended up in the foot well somewhere hugging a large fire extinguisher which had just belted me round the back of the head. In all a most memorable night !!
The "Boston Standard" of 4 March 2020 republished a contemporary report into the incident along with photographs of the wrecked aircraft (see link #3):
"NOSTALGIA: ‘It was a bit of a shock’ – £3m Phantom jet plane crashes near RAF Coningsby
There was full-scale alert at RAF Coningsby 40 years ago when a Phantom jet plane crashed near the station.
Three appliances from Boston Fire Station, supplemented by crews from Horncastle, Woodhall Spa, and Billinghay, supported the RAF rescue services in the emergency response.
The aircraft – Phantom E for Echo of No 29 Squadron – crashed at the end of the runway at about 11.35pm, the two-man crew ejecting safely beforehand.
The £3m aircraft ploughed through the fence on the New York road to Boston and came to rest midway between that road and the parallel road to Thornton le Fen.
Living less than 200 yards from where the aircraft crashed was Janet Haines. “I did hear something, and when I got up and saw what had happened it was a bit of a shock and I was so thankful when I heard the crew was all right,” she said. “It’s no good complaining. Everyone is all right and the planes could just as easily crash on your house as on mine.”
An RAF inquiry into the crash was expected to be held."
Wreckage allocated to BDRF at Abingdon for ground instructional use as 8850M
Sources:
1. http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/maas_19800305_xv436.pdf
2. http://web.archive.org/web/20171019205516/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/F-4_Phantom_RAF.htm
3. Boston Standard 4 March 2020: https://www.bostonstandard.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/nostalgia-it-was-bit-shock-ps3m-phantom-jet-plane-crashes-near-raf-coningsby-2003709
4. https://www.pprune.org/7171324-post19.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Nov-2010 11:55 | ASN archive | Added |
| 05-Jun-2013 01:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 11-Jul-2013 03:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Source, Embed code] |
| 08-Apr-2020 23:43 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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